The Purgatory
by darkshadow229
Summary: The children have arrived. But in different times and in different ways. It begs the question: Is this a cul-de-sac or something else?
1. Rolf

The Purgatory

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Ed, Edd n' Eddy which belongs to Danny Antonucci. I only own the characters Johnny Toretto, his accomplices and the plot (some of it). **

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Chapter 1: Rolf

Background

In the late 1800's and early 1900's, there were many immigrants coming to America from other countries. Now, at the time, there were two different locations used to get these immigrants to America. The historic Ellis Island at the New York Harbor in Jersey City, New Jersey and the also historical Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay.

These immigrants had come to America for a number of reasons. They had family there, they were escaping persecution and war or they did not want to be abused and neglected in their home country. But for the most part, the majority of these immigrants had come to America for the chance to have a better life.

This is the same reason that Rolf's family had come to America. In June 1901, Rolf's family had lived in a small country in Eastern Europe. At the time, this country was beginning to face persecution and as a result, the citizens were also facing debt and abuse. Rolf's father, mother, grandmother and siblings had come to America when Rolf was only 7 in 1904. 6 or 7 years later, Rolf would die in a brutal and horrific event.

Rolf's family had lived on what were then the barren fields of what we call now Peach Creek. Rolf's siblings, as much as they loved him, were occupied with their own work and activities. Rolf had spent much of his time either working on the family farm or going into town to buy food.

In late May 1910, Rolf's father and mother had gone into town to buy food which left Rolf's 3 siblings, his grandmother and Rolf himself on the farm. On May 23rd, 1910, Rolf Van Duren had died. This is his story.

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Rolf had sighed as he was trying to do the day's work. Mama and Papa had gone out into town and most likely would not be back until the changing of the sky's color. He had been very young when they left their home country. Rolf could barely even remember their old home. America was his home now.

He was working as he remembered what his mother and father said. They had told him to make sure he did all of his chores before he went to play and to take good care of his siblings. They also told him to watch out for strangers.

Lately, there has been a small depression, particularly in the area where Peach Creek was. A group of local businessman immediately blamed the depression on immigrant residents. The rest of the town or some of it had followed suit. Now, Rolf's curfew was earlier because of the fear of what the townspeople would do.

Rolf was tending to the cattle and sheep when he felt a chill go down his spine. Something was going to happen soon. He had that feeling about it. Soon after, he noticed a man wearing a powder blue suit with a matching top hat. He was wearing gloves and had an evil, sinister grin on his face.

Rolf then heard a cry for help.

"Rolf!" He turned around to see his grandma being held by the man who was holding a knife up to her throat.

"Nana!" Rolf shouted.

He had tried to run to her but he was held back by two men in dark blue suits and hats.

One of the men holding Rolf back shouted "Hey, Johnny, what are we going to do with these immigrants?"

Johnny shouted back "We're going to teach these immigrants a lesson, that's what we're going to do with them!"

Johnny continued "You think you have rights here, you immigrants, huh? Well, you don't and especially not since you came. Coming to our country with your fake, fancy foreign names and families and then taking away jobs that belong to our pureblood American people."

Nana said "Please, if it is money you want, take all of it but don't hurt my gra…"

Johnny shouted "Shut up! You people should know how to be silent when somebody else is speaking! Or did they not teach you that in immigrant school?"

Rolf hated the way this hateful man was talking to them. But it was not just that, it was also what this man- Johnny, the other two men called him- was spewing out.

Yes, his family was an immigrant family. But they were now citizens of the United States of America and if this Johnny man hated it, then he could move somewhere else that didn't have immigrants.

Johnny still had the knife to Nana's neck as he said "This was a nice, quiet, all-American community. And then you foreign scumbags started coming in by the truckload. Since then, the town's economy and livelihood has gone down. All because of you people."

Nana replied "We'll give you anything, just don't hurt any of us. What is it that you want? Money? Jewels?"

Johnny held Nana by the collar of her dress and said "I want all of you scumbags gone. That's what I want."

Nana glared at him and then replied "Young man, I know that you must be frustrated with the way things are now. But taking it out on innocent citizens like us is no way to resolve the…"

Johnny shouted "I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!" before he cut Nana's neck with the knife.

Rolf's eyes widened. This psychopath had just killed his grandmother. And Rolf knew that he might be next. He had to get away from the farm and into the town, somewhere safe where he could find what they called the police.

Rolf shouted "Nana!" while still trying to get out of the grasps of the two men.

Johnny turned around with a grin on his face, the blood now on his face and his suit sleeve.

Johnny said "Oh, don't worry. In fact, you should be joining your grandma very soon."

Rolf didn't know what that meant but he already had the feeling that it wasn't anything good. He waited until the two men were off their guard before he picked up a rake.

He shoved the front part into the stomach of the first man and then used the tip to push the first man into the second one. The result of that was both men had landed on the ground and on top of each other.

Rolf had begun running as far as he could. He knew that he had two options. The first was to run to the woods where he could lose them there. The second was to run to the town and get the tall men with batons.

Johnny looked down at the two men and shouted "You two, go inside the house and take down the rest of those freaks! I'm going after the brave boy!" before he started running after Rolf.

As he ran, he looked behind and saw Johnny who was running faster and faster. He charged at Rolf as if he was a bull. Rolf was then tackled down to the ground.

Johnny smirked. He had finally caught the boy. The brave one that thought he could escape Johnny "The Bull" Toretto. Of course, most of his kind would be cocky and confident but they've never faced the likes of him back in their home country.

Rolf had tried to grab at the ground before he was taken. But the best he was able to claw on to the grass as Johnny began to drag him to the house.

Rolf screamed "NO!"

Rolf woke up in his bed, panting and sweating. He looked at the alarm clock. In glaring red numbers, it said 4:07. It must have been the morning because Rolf saw that, from his bedroom window, it was still dark outside.

Rolf thought "What a strange dream." as he slowly got out of his bed, rubbing his eyes.

Rolf tried to remember just what he ate or did before he went to bed. But he can't actually recall it. In fact, he tried to remember what he did at all yesterday. He couldn't remember that either.

Rolf could barely remember anything before a few days. Rolf sighed and looked around, trying to find something that he could identify. Even if he had identified it by pure luck. But to his horror, he couldn't.

Suddenly, Rolf was overwhelmed with memories of his life and family and working. Some of them seemed real but the majority of them seemed like they were false or implanted into his mind. He shook off the thought and decided to go downstairs and get some early breakfast.

He looked at his alarm clock just before he left the room. It was now 4: 44 am. Rolf had been sitting awake for 34 minutes. Rolf had gone down to his kitchen and saw a newspaper lying on the kitchen table. Rolf opened up the newspaper and looked at it. It was a local newspaper. But the date… it was more than a hundred years ago!

Rolf saw one of the stories on the front page. It was about a young boy of his age who was killed along with his grandmother and 3 siblings on his family's farm. Rolf thought the photograph accompanying the story looked familiar but he just shrugged and put the newspaper back down.

Afterward

Rolf Van Duren, his grandmother- Lucia Van Duren and his three siblings- Alexander, Vivian and Yuliana had all been killed by Johnny "The Bull" Toretto, a local market worker on May 23rd, 1910. Lucia Van Duren had been killed by having her throat slit. Alexander, Vivian and Yuliana were all murdered by Toretto's accomplices, James and Keith Redman. Rolf had run away from his captors and had almost gotten to the perimeter of the farm when Toretto tackled him and dragged Rolf back to the house, where he was killed.

In Peach Creek Cemetery, Rolf's grave read "Rolf Cesar Van Duren: March 1st, 1897- May 23rd, 1910". Over the next 100 years or less, eight or more graves would follow Rolf's in the cemetery.

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**So Rolf's the first victim to go! Who will be next? Find out next chapter!**

**Benny: Why did you have to kill Rolf? Not that I really care but why?**

**It's traditional, Benny. Everyone knows that and soon, you will too. Read and review, everyone!  
**


	2. Jonny

The Purgatory

Chapter 2: Jonny

Background

Jonny's story begins in the early winter of 1912. Lucinda Horace, a young florist, is working on the streets of Los Angeles, California. She was just a 17-year-old student in her final year of high school. She met an older, middle-aged man named James Rogers. The two were engaged in a few months and by mid-1914, they had been married for a year and a half and they had a 2-year-old son, Jonny as well as two other children from James' first marriage.

However, in July 1914, World War I had begun. James had been unwillingly drafted into the Army and Lucinda would not see him again for another 2 years. When James returned, Jonny was now 4 years old. When Jonny was 7, Lucinda and James decided to move since the family was expanding and the small home just outside Los Angeles would not do.

The cottage was fine when it was just Jonny and the other two children. But now that there were three or four others, Lucinda and James had soon decided to move away and get a bigger home. At the time, Peach Creek was still in its birth and the two sections: the town and the farms were still slowly coming together.

Jonny, his half-siblings and his parents moved into a large house not far from where Rolf used to live. Jonny was a quiet, young boy and as a result of his social awkwardness, he did not make friends very easily. In fact, the only friends he had other than his half-siblings was a wooden board that he drew on and named Plank.

Well that and the McCurry kids. The McCurry gang was called such because their hangout was on what they used to call McCurry Street. They were probably the only group of kids in all of Peach Creek that were as wild, if not even more as Jonny. The one that Jonny interacted with the most was a girl with light brown hair named Madison Harris.

Madison was one of the early ' child flappers' of the late 1910's and she had a personality that if she was not a McCurry kid, people would have already respected her for. At age 11, she was a few years older than Jonny and was one of the few friends he had. She rarely acted traditional and never seemed mean or persistent towards him. For that reason among many others, her and Jonny had become friends. Jonny liked her and his parents didn't mind Madison. If anything, they teased Jonny about him and Madison being friends.

Despite his friendship with the McCurry kids, Jonny's life was not going easy. His family was in financial troubles following the end of World War I and were barely making ends meet when Jonny started school. Jonny was not very popular at school, either. Him wearing T-shirts and jeans and often, sneakers or sandals made him a target of the rude, formal-looking bullies.

There is the story...

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It was a beautiful afternoon in late May at Peach Creek Primary. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and the playground was full of happy and content children. Jonny was just sitting around with Plank, Madison and a few of the other McCurry Street kids when the children heard footsteps.

A second-grader ran past them, shouting " Run! Everybody, run, the seniors are coming this way!"

It was no secret that the fourth, fifth and sixth-graders did not get along well with the lower grade children. They were all kind and nice to them when teachers were around but as soon as the adult turned their back, things would be horrible. The fifth and sixth-graders were particularly abusive, due to the fact that they would be gone either that year or the following one.

The seniors usually stayed away from the McCurry Street gang but with Jonny and junior member Madison, it was a different story. The seniors were less likely to go after Madison, but Jonny was fresh meat and since he wasn't always with the McCurry Street kids, he could be attacked at any moment.

Jonny noticed a fifth-grade boy in a blue dress shirt and pants walking towards him. Jonny looked at him and smiled. Since Jonny was young, he had assumed the fifth-grader was a new kid and he was partly right.

Johnny looked over to him and said "Hi. I'm Jonny. You must be the new boy."

The fifth-grader rolled his eyes and replied sarcastically "No, I'm a horse. Of course, I'm the new boy, you little brat. What did you think I was, huh? Some kind of superhero?"

Madison walked in front of the fifth grader and said "What's your problem, new boy?"

The fifth- grader replied "My problem is with this little square here, not you, ugly tomboy. So just mind your own business and stay out of it."

If Madison looked angry before, she was furious now. She took off her jacket and growled "What did you just say?"

Jonny slowly backed away. He knew better than to get in the way of Madison when she was bad. When Madison was mad, well... bad things would happen. That and the fact that Jonny preferred to keep all his limbs and keep them unbroken.

Madison soon began to calm down. However, she did calm down very much as she would have normally. The chances were that this new kid had managed to extremely annoy her.

She glared at the boy and said "Look, new kid, I don't know how long you've been here. But let me tell you something. You go around and mess with Jonny, you mess with me. Not only me but them too." as she pointed to the rest of the McCurry Street gang.

Madison continued "If you give Jonny pain, we'll give you pain. Do you get that, new boy?"

Jonny knew that Madison wasn't kidding from seeing her experience. Last year, some seventh-grader from the middle school tried to beat up Jonny after school in the town square. He wasn't too successful but Jonny ended up with a black eye and some bruises.

He told Madison that it wasn't that big of a deal and that the boys were just messing with him. But when you messed with Jonny, you messed with Madison Harris. And when you messed with Madison Harris, bad things happen. To days later, the boy was beat up near the high school. Jonny did not get all the details but some of the older kids said that the seventh-grader got beat up so badly that he had to go to the hospital and miss the rest of the seventh and the entire eighth grade.

The new kid glared at Jonny as he walked away but not before he pointed to Jonny and said "This isn't over. I'm going to get you. Maybe I won't get you today but I am going to get you." before he turned around and left.

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Background (continued)

Jonny's life did not get much better after that. He was continuously alienated, abused and bullied by his classmates and the townspeople. He had mostly ignored them but every once in a while, he stood up for himself. The townspeople did not like this of course and so Jonny faced a weekly or sometimes, daily beating from both his peers and fellow people.

Life at home was not getting much better, either. Jonny's family was getting larger and the family could now afford at this time to move out of their home. Also, life was not going too well in the home since people ere attacking and abusing for many different reasons: Being weak, standing up for himself, living in a large family or being of a 75% white ethnicity.

The late 1910's and early 1920's was not a good time to be an African-American. Actually, it wasn't a good time to be an African American, a biracial person or someone who supported African-Americans. With the Race Riots having occurred only a year or two before, life wasn't going great for Jonny. He was bullied by racist classmates, neighbors, townspeople and even his own relatives.

Jonny's life had not been good and on the day of his illness, December 9th, 1922, that wasn't too much of an exception.

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10-year-old Jonny was outside on that cold winter morning. He was with the McCurry Street gang and his classmates. There was no school that fateful day as it was a Saturday. Jonny was enjoying the day off and playing in the snow. He was wearing his usual T-shirt, a grey hooded sweater and jeans with shoes when he noticed a boy who was on a bike. He froze as he soon saw who it was.

It was the boy from two years ago. He was now a sixth-grader but only because he got left back a year. Madison and Jonny still didn't get along with this kid. Even worse, Jonny had to see the boy at school.

Jonny and Madison saw who was there and Madison's eyes narrowed. Jonny gulped as he looked back and forth. Something was going to happen, he could feel it in his bones.

The boy and Madison stared each other down as if they couldn't believe that the other was anywhere near them.

The boy decided to speak first.

The boy asked " What are you doing here, Harris?"

Madison answered " I'm sitting in the snow. I'm playing, what do ya think I'm doing, kid?"

The boy replied harshly " I know you're playing with the snow, Harris. I wasn't born yesterday. I meant what are you doing on Fender turf?"

Madison rolled her eyes and said " This isn't some piece of land for you and your stupid gang, tommy boy. It's something called a street. You do know what that is, right?"

The boy said " You know, Harris. I don't normally go after girls, but you're just trying to get on my nerves. So I might make a little exception for you."

Jonny wouldn't have laughed at it. But the statement itself seemed slightly cliché and the tone that Thomas said it in made Jonny laugh.

Thomas glared at Jonny before he asked " What's so funny, halfie?"

Jonny just ignored the racial slur since he was used to hearing stuff like that from other townspeople. Jonny just smirked and decided to answer the question in one of the few ways he knew how.

Jonny answered " You, pretty much. Every single thing about you. That's what I find funny. What about you, Madison?"

Madison and the other kids started chuckling before Thomas got off his bike. He flexed his knuckles before he stomped over to Jonny.

He pushed Jonny as he said " You think you're something funny, huh, coconut?"

Jonny didn't even want to respond to that statement. What was the point? He didn't want to deal with Thomas and certainly not today.

So Jonny did the most logical thing he could at the time. He pushed Thomas back and then said the words that set him off.

He replied " Maybe I'm a coconut but you know what, Thomas? You're just a rock. A hard, broken rock."

Thomas scowled and began to push Jonny again. He then punched Jonny in the face. Jonny touched his bleeding lip, now knowing the metallic taste of blood. As Thomas punched Jonny in the stomach and Jonny ended up kneeling on the ground, Jonny began to feel something inside him.

He began to feel... cold. Now, it could have been because his body temperature was lower than the temperature outside, which was 35 degrees Fahrenheit at the time. But he didn't just feel like he was cold. Jonny felt like he was in a sub-zero place.

He began to cough, because of how cold he felt and the hardness of the punch.

Thomas stood over Jonny with his gang, smirking as he prepared to say an insult.

The smirk went away as soon as Jonny made that first cough up of blood. Everybody was yelling at Thomas and Madison was probably yelling at him the most. One kid went to get Mister Rosenstein, the town doctor.

Madison shouted " Look at what you did, Thomas!"

Thomas replied " I didn't do anything. All I did was rough the little square up a little! I don't make people go spitting blood!"

Jack Winsley, the neighborhood pickpocket muttered " I can disagree with that one easily."

Thomas beat Winsley up when Winsley tried to steal his money. Thomas beat him to the point where he spent two months at the county hospital. Ever since, Winsley's steered clear of Thomas.

Everybody looked at Jonny. Jonny stared at Madison and nodded at her.

Madison asked " Jonny, are you okay?" in a worried tone.

Jonny coughed and answered " Help me..."

This was just before he passed out and the doctor carried him away.

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Background ( continued)

It had turned out that Jonny had pneumonia. This was unusual since the last rainfall was weeks, even months ago. But Jonny was still sick so his parents had taken to Peach Creek County Hospital in the hopes that he would get better. If he was, it didn't show. If anything, Jonny's condition somehow got worse and worse over the months. On one unique day in May of 1923, Madison had gone to PCCH to visit Jonny in the Children's Ward once again. However, this time was a better one for Jonny.

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Jonny was lying down in his hospital bed as usual, Plank in his right hand and barefoot as he was in bed and not sitting.

Madison had made the decision to visit him once again. After spending a couple months here and there at the doctor's office, Jonny's mom and dad had sent him to the local clinic in hopes of him getting better.

However, he didn't. So they were forced to send him to the hospital. It wasn't as bad as the other kids said that it would be but it sure was boring. There weren't many other kids in his section of the ward and the ones he encountered were either timid and quiet or stuck up and standoffish.

So beside his few visitors and the nurses and doctors, Plank was his friend. He heard the hospital doors open as he saw Madison slightly from his door. He closed his eyes and held Plank closer.

Madison came in. Her brown hair was curly this time, apparently for visiting Jonny. Her hazel eyes shone as she looked at Jonny, who she had thought was sleeping while holding Plank.

Madison sat down in the chair next to Jonny's hospital bed and looked at him. She then sighed and opened her mouth to speak.

" Jonny, I know you're asleep. Both you and Plank." before she looked at Jonny, who was sleeping supposedly with Plank in his hands.

" I know it's been a long four months but things are going well back home. Mike finally got his teeth straightened and little Alison's in the fourth grade now. I know that she was one of your favorites to look after."

Madison looked around at the hospital room before she continued.

" I miss you, Jonny and I miss Plank too...well, sorta of. Everybody else misses you too except for Thomas. But who cares about what he has to say? Ever since that day with the fight, he's had it out for you. But I won't let him get anywhere near you."

She said " You may be a coconut but you're my coconut." as she kissed Jonny on the cheek.

She said " Well, Jonny, I'd better go. Bye." before she left the room.

Jonny slowly opened his eyes, a smile on his face and a red blush as well.

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Background (continued)

However, Jonny's happiness would not last long. His condition became more drastic as the weeks and months went on. Eventually, Jonny's suffering had ceased. But not in the way you think. He died on March 20, 1924- the first day of spring.

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Jonny was lying down on his hospital bed. As usual, he was holding Plank in his arms. He couldn't tell where he was or what time or day it was. But he did know one thing: he was flying!

He actually had a pair of wings on his back. White, large, angel wings on his back. And Plank did too but he was no longer in Jonny's arms. He was instead flying beside Jonny. They seemed to be flying into the clouds and the sky with a bunch of other people in white.

Jonny thought " Weird. Why aren't Plank and I wearing white? And where's Madison? I miss her. Oh well..."

Jonny saw an older man and woman flying besides each other. He rose up to where they were. Both of them had one hand held out and motioned for Jonny to hold on to them.

He obeyed and did so. They began to rise higher and higher as they saw a golden gate open slowly and they heard majestic music.

But then they heard lightening and thunder. Suddenly, the two people let go of Jonny's hands as if he was suddenly ejected from their hands. Plank was falling too and there were no wings on their backs to help them.

As Jonny and Plank fell into the dark abyss, Jonny shouted "NO!"

Jonny opened his eyes as he got up and was still in bed. He was in his pajamas and looking around the room. He just had the most strange dream ever. He had wings and so did the piece of wood next to him and they were suddenly falling into a dark abyss.

Jonny looked at the piece of wood itself and picked it up. He then began to examine it. It had drawn eyes and a smile on its face which didn't seem to go away at all, no matter how you tried.

Jonny was wondering what to name the wooden board. It didn't take him very long to decide on a name.

Jonny said " You know what... I'll call you Plank. How's that?"

Plank gave only a smile and no actual response.

Jonny said " Great! Now, come on, buddy, let's get some breakfast." as he grabbed Plank and went downstairs to get breakfast.

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Afterward

Jonny died early that morning in the children's ward at Peach Creek County Hospital. Medics tried to revive him, but to no avail. Alison Grey would soon join him as she had died of leukemia a few months after.

Jonny's grave, like his house, was buried not far from Rolf's and his headstone read " Jonathan Rogers: Loved Son, Friend, Brother: April 1, 1912- March 20, 1924".

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**Jonny is Victim Number Two! Who will be next to enter the Purgatory?**

**Benny: I'd say Kevin but that's just my speculation.**

**Oh and before I forget, tonight is the 2012 Olympics! Right, Benny?**

**Benny: Go USA! Go Canada! Go Great Britain! Go Jamaica! Go all other countries! **

**As you can see, we're all excited about the Olympics, which start tonight. But can you really blame us?**

**Read and review! **


	3. Eddy

The Purgatory chapter 3

Background

In the mid to late 1920's, prosperity and happiness was coming. But with it was the Great Depression. This is the time period that little Eddy Johnson was born into. On January 14th, 1927, Eduardo " Eddy" Johnson was born in Trenton, New Jersey. His parents were 30-year-old Jill Ramirez, a secretary and Corey Johnson, who was a hard worker who was a lawyer in the state of New Jersey.

Eddy grew up in a small family, the third-oldest in a family of six. Eddy lived in Trenton until he was five. Lucas, Eddy's older brother had difficulty at both home and school. Jill and Corey didn't know what to do about Lucas.

Jill had thought that a change of setting would do the kids good. Corey agreed with her and soon, they were looking for a new home. By then, it was 1932 and the Great Depression had taken place.

As a result, the Johnsons couldn't really afford anything large as much as they wanted. But they did know this: they did not want to stay in the city. The reason was because most cities had a large quantity of people and many dangerous occurrences happening in it. They thought that was what caused Lucas' change in attitude and temper. So they decided that they would go to a town.

One with a suburban feel and a close-knit community that would provide calm, peace and comfort. Peach Creek, at the time, perfectly fit the bill. The children were not informed about the move and when they found out, none of them were very happy about it.

They found a decent-sized house a few miles outside of town and moved in almost immediately despite the children's protests. Only the two youngest children, Melinda and Jay had managed to be calm shortly after moving in. All the other children were not happy about it all and to prove that, gave Jill, Corey and the kids the silent treatment for a week straight.

After a while, any normal person would just assume that the kids would relax and settle down in Peach Creek. If you did, you would be partially right. Melinda, Jay and Rowan had settled in Peach Creek. Catherine had provided some resistance but she eventually settled down like the others.

However, things were different with Eddy and Lucas. Eddy was enrolled into a elementary school a few miles away while Lucas attended second grade at Peach Creek Primary School.

Neither of the boys had enjoyed being at school, Lucas in particular but both of them managed to stay in school. When Eddy was seven years old, he was then moved from Hollow Creek Primary School to Peach Creek Primary School.

The only reason that Eddy was moved was because his parents felt that it would be better if Eddy went to a school that was closer to home. Both Eddy and Lucas never adjusted to living in Peach Creek and expressed that in different ways.

Lucas had gotten into many different fights with other students at school. Lucas would be sent home so very often that his mother would be shocked when he didn't come home early. He also got into gambling, which was playing cards and games for money. He often won which left many young children wanting his blood.

Unfortunately for them, Lucas was practically untouchable. In school, teachers paid extra attention to misbehaving kids in that time and if you were one of them, you couldn't get away with even whispering an insult or a rumor. Out in the schoolyard, Lucas had a gang of classmates that would fight for him. Often, the gang would win and that meant that Lucas actually was untouchable.

Unfortunately for Eddy, they decided that if they couldn't go after Lucas, they'd go after his siblings. But they would need a reason or an excuse. Enter Eddy's way of dealing with the move. Being that this was during the Great Depression era, a lot of people were wanting money so they worked. Even if it was something small like dancing in the streets. Eddy was no exception to that.

Eddy would usually pull a "scam" to get money from his fellow students. These weren't like the small-time, disastrous scams Eddy pulled in the cul-de-sac. These were genuine, good plans to strip people of their money. Very often, these scams worked. But it also gave the classmates an additional excuse to give Eddy hell because of his life and family.

Sometimes, his uncle and aunt would come into town and that's when trouble would start. His uncle was cruel and treated the children horribly. He actually treated Eddy the worst out of all the six because he thought that Eddy was greedy, stuck-up and manipulative. Eddy may have been manipulative but he was not greedy and he certainly wasn't stuck up.

However, he wasn't able to confront his uncle until he went into the afterlife. But we will talk about that later. Now, Eddy used to look up to his uncle and think of him as ' his hero'. The reason for this? Well, once upon a time, there was a man named Jack Ramirez who had a wife named and a daughter named Martina.

One day, Jack and his wife, Cindy were driving back home with Martina. At a intersection, another man was driving extremely fast and he was also intoxicated. Now, this was 1930. Prohibition was going on at this time and during that particular year, it was coming to a climax.

Jack hadn't cared about Prohibition until that day. The driver of the other car had managed to hit the car that Jack, Cindy and Martina was in.

Jack received mild injuries from the crash that he recovered from. Martina had gotten moderate injuries. However, Cindy did not survive. She was next to Jack when the cars crashed into each other and was flung out of her seat. She died instantly.

Jack felt unhappy, angry and sad at the fact that his wife had been killed. But he was happy that he had his daughter, Martina. It wouldn't be for long, though. Unlike her father, Martina did not recover from her injuries and was sent to Peach Creek County Hospital. On the morning of June 30th, 1930, Martina was found in her hospital bed, screaming and convulsing. Doctors tried to save her, but to no avail. She died only seven days after her mother.

As if Jack had not had enough agony, there was another problem. The driver of the other car had to face trial in front of a jury. Jack was smiling as he entered the courtroom on that day. He was hoping for justice. However, it didn't come.

The driver was found not guilty. As you could predict, Jack was unhappy that the killer of his first wife and only child went free. He became a shell of his former self, drinking, being abusive and manipulative. Jack had remarried to a woman named Dot who was just as vicious as he was.

Jack had begun to bully and manipulate the children whenever he and Dot visited, Eddy in particular. He had taunted, hurt, abused, bullied, intimidated and manipulated Eddy. Even in the cul-de-sac, Eddy couldn't get away from his uncle.

Eddy's mind would lead to his demise, somewhat. On April 9th, 1940, Eddy had the idea of a soccer game. But there would be certain rules, such as that you have to pay a dollar to get in and extra money if you want to bet or that if one member of one team is sick, a member of the other team has to play. So kids were unhappy.

* * *

Eddy watched the children play soccer. Blues versus Reds. It was hilarious and great seeing all the kids paying attention to this when they probably wouldn't have. But why would he care?

After all, he was making a killing off this game. 30 bucks already and it's not even halftime yet! So as he smiled and put his hands back on the table, he watched them play. Life wasn't too peaceful lately with the violence overseas and all. But he didn't need to worry. As long as the US stayed out of it for the most part, everything would be OK. Or so he hoped.

10 minutes before halftime, one of the Blue players kicked the ball out of bounds. In fact, it was so out of bounds that it went off the field.

A spectator shouted " Oh great, the ball went into the street!"

Eddy replied " Well, who's going to be the one to get the stupid thing?"

A Red player said " It should be Randy. He's the captain of the Blues, after all."

Randy replied " Me? It's my team but that doesn't mean that I should be the one to get it. Let it be Jake. It's his team who caused all this."

Jake shouted " No way! It should be Carlton because he kicked the ball out of bounds and he's on Randy's team."

Carlton replied in a annoyed tone " Why should I do it? If anybody should get that ball, it should be the little geek over there." then he pointed to Eddy, who stood up and glared at Carlton.

Carlton continued " He's the one that set this game up and he's the closest to the street so he should get it, right?"

The spectator shouted " Will you morons stop arguing and have somebody get the ball, already?"

Eddy replied " Oh, I'll get the stupid thing." as he left the table to go cross the street and grab the ball.

Now, just before Eddy gets the ball out of the street, there's a car with a drunk man inside and his wife. Can you guess who that man is? His uncle Jack and his wife Dot. Jack was driving so fast that he couldn't see where he was going. The car was spiraling out of control.

Eddy grumbled " Dang ball...this shouldn't take long." as he grabbed the ball from the other end of the street.

Eddy couldn't see the car approaching quickly but the spectators and the players could. They tried to warn Eddy as he dusted the ball off.

Jake shouted " Eddy!"

Eddy looked around. Who just called his name from over there? Who knew? There were so many people so it could have been anybody. But he didn't care at that moment. He just wanted to get the ball, dust it off and go back to the field and the soccer game.

Randy shouted in shock " Eddy!"

Eddy turned to the group. They were motioning to him. He couldn't tell what they were signaling to him so he tried to dust the ball off faster.

Carlton yelled " Eddy!"

Eddy turned to the group and shouted " What?"

They pointed to the car. Eddy turned back and looked at the car. He tried to run but it was too late.

Eddy woke up, screaming in fear and horror. After he calmed down, he realized that he was in a room. A bedroom that seemed to be his, to be exact.

Eddy said " Man, what a horrible nightmare!" as he got out of bed. He changed into a yellow T-shirt and jeans. He went downstairs into his kitchen to find something to eat.

He saw a radio on the kitchen table which he decided to turn on.

_" Yesterday afternoon, a crime was committed in Peach Creek. A man by the name of Jack Ramirez had run over his nephew, a 13 or 14-year-old boy near the intersection of Harrlet and Green. The nephew had been the instructor of a local soccer game and was retrieving a soccer ball when he was hit head-on by the car. The man and his wife, Dot are currently still at-large."_

Eddy turned off the radio before he looked around for something to eat.

He thought " Oh, man. That poor kid...Ah well." before he shrugged and grabbed a box of cereal.

* * *

Afterward

Eduardo Jackson " Eddy" Johnson had died on April 9th, 1940. He was hit by the car intentionally as Mister Ramirez had regained control of the car when he hit Eddy. Now, if Eddy had just been a little bit faster, he could have gotten away alive. But, sadly, he was hit head-on by the speeding car.

The impact was so hard that his body nearly shut down. A spectator ran to get a doctor to send Eddy to the hospital. But by then, it was too late.

A memorial was made near where Eddy was killed just two weeks later. It still stands there today. His uncle, Jack Ramirez and his wife, Dot were found three weeks later. They were hiding in the abandoned basement of a neighboring house.

On April 23rd, 1940, Jack and Dot Ramirez were arrested on the charges of intoxicated while driving, two counts of murder in the second degree and several counts of assault and attempted murder.

The two counts of murder in the second degree were of: Devon Wates, the man who killed Jack's first wife and daughter ten years earlier and Eddy Johnson, his nephew.

The counts of assault and attempted murder were of: the soccer players and spectators.

Jack and Dot were found guilty of all charges and were sent to separate prisons. Dorothy " Dot" Ramirez nee Dane was sent to Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women and sentenced to life in prison. She died just three years after being released.

Jackson " Jack" Ramirez was sent to Sing Sing Correctional Facility for life in prison without parole. Jack died in prison at the age of 87.

Eddy's grave was not far from Jonny's but it was good enough to be close to the graves of the next victims.

Eddy's grave read " Eduardo Jackson Johnson: Beloved Son, Brother and Friend: January 27th 1927- April 9th, 1940."

* * *

**That makes Eddy our third victim. So who will be next to enter the Purgatory?**

**Benny: I have no clue and I don't really care.**

**Of course you don't, Benny. So today is the last day of the London Olympics. Congrats to all the countries that participated and especially to the US, who got 104 medals!**

**Benny: I'm surprised that they didn't get more.**

**They might. It's not over yet. Read and review, everyone!**


	4. Ed & Sarah

The Purgatory chapter 4

Background

Shortly after World War II had began to wind down in 1943, soldiers had began to come home. Many of the soldiers were young men who had been drafted. Some against their will and others not so much. The majority of them were just happy to be home.

24-year-old former college student Michael McKenzie was no exception to this. The former Harvard junior had been away from home for three years. He had returned to his native hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Unable to stay at Harvard to continue his education, he began working as a mechanic.

He met his future wife, then 21-year-old Yale junior Gwendolyn Jackson at a store. They had a child, Edward Horace McKenzie the next year. When Ed was two, Gwendolyn and Michael had decided to move from Hartford, Connecticut ( Gwendolyn's hometown) to the suburban town of Peach Creek. At the time, suburbs were slowly starting to form and pre-planned developments were appearing.

That year, Gwendolyn had another child, Sarah Jennifer McKenzie. The family lived in a normal-sized house in the suburbs of Peach Creek. Sarah and Ed both grew up and attended Peach Creek Primary School.

Sarah was obnoxious and wanted her own way with everything. Even as a baby, she seemed to get her own way. Ed, on the other hand was not so lucky. His mom let Sarah get away with murder and his dad worked very long hours so he never caught on. Besides, Sarah was "daddy's little girl".

Michael had found work as a businessman. However, he would have to work long hours and sometimes go away for weeks, even months on business. This left almost no time for family. Gwendolyn was home very often but she was also busy and only doted on Sarah. She paid little to no attention to Ed. In fact, she only paid attention to Ed when Sarah said that Ed did something wrong.

Sarah enjoyed things that most young girls did at the time. She played with dolls and dressed up. She had a lot of friends for her age and was creative.

Ed, on the other hand enjoyed cartoons and comic books along with toys and action figures. Ed spent many a day sitting on his front porch reading a Spiderman or Batman comic. He had few, if not no friends at all so he spent most of his time in his bedroom reading comics or playing with action figures. He was often bullied, taunted and mocked for standing out or being himself.

There were several incidents where Ed was abused or bullied. This one is very memorable, having taken place when Ed was just nine years old.

This is what happened...

* * *

Ed was at Peach Creek Primary School, as usual. He was sitting in his seat, bored and almost asleep with drool running from his mouth and his head on his desk. He ended up being awake when his teacher came in with a television set. He soon set it up before putting in a video.

Ed raised his head up, wondering what was going on. Mister Peterson was one of his favorite teachers, due to the fact that he was nice to all the other students. He made English interesting and fun unlike other teachers. Mister Peterson always had a smile on his face.

But today he didn't. He had a sad, almost unhappy look on his face which seemed to show pity and sympathy. Ed had wondered why but he would soon get his answer when Mister Peterson began to talk.

He said sadly " Students, we were supposed to be continuing our reading of The Catcher in the Rye. However, the school board and the principal have decided to show us this short film in light of the recent events that have occurred recently."

Ed definitely knew what Mister Peterson was talking about. For the past three weeks, kids have been disappearing from nearby places. The majority of the missing kids are young boys like him.

Ed thought " So this is the school board's solution? Let's see what it is..."

As the film began to start, Ed saw the opening credits and realized what it was.

Ed thought " Boys Beware? Why are they showing it to third graders? We won't understand any of this. Well, we might but not all of it."

Boys Beware had been released in 1951, when Ed was just six or seven years old. It had been shown nationwide since and most people paid attention to it. But as we all know, Ed wasn't like most people. So he just sat in his seat, half-asleep for the rest of the class.

Thankfully, the bell rang and it was lunchtime now. Ed didn't have much to eat so he could read the latest Superman comic. Sometimes, he wished that he could be like Superman. But that wasn't possible at all.

He went outside and sat on the stoop of a building and began reading his Lord of the Rings book. He looked inside his brown bag. It contained a sandwich, potato chips, an apple and cookies.

He began reading the book as he bit into his apple. This issue was interesting so far and he couldn't wait to read the rest of it. But it was interrupted by a smaller boy walking over to him. He was small, had dark brown hair and wore glasses. He wore a white dress shirt and grey shorts.

Ed said " Hi, Billy."

Billy Edwards was only eight but he was an OK kid in Ed's eyes. They had one thing in common: both were outcasts, but for different reasons. Billy was bullied and teased because he was smart and weak. Ed was mocked and taunted for his height, his creativity and his hobbies.

Billy asked " Hey, Ed. Did you watch that film they were showing back in the classroom?"

Ed answered " Yes, I did. Why?"

Billy replied " So what do you think of it?"

Ed said " I think it sounded ridiculous. Most of us are too smart to be fooled by that and even if we weren't before, we are now."

Billy replied in a frightened tone " But what about the homosexual?"

Ed said " Trust me, Billy. Homosexuals aren't evil and they aren't going to drive up next to you while you're walking home from school and grab you."

Billy nodded as a response. Ed went back to reading his novel and he took another bite of his apple. Unfortunately, his reading was once again interrupted.

Ed heard someone say " Hey, look, guys. It's David the geek and Goliath the freak."

Their friends began laughing as if it was funny. Henry Alvarez was a sixth grader and one of the most annoying out of the whole grade. He had his own little group of minions and he loved to bully and torment the younger students.

Personally, Ed thought that he was just annoying, stuck-up and spoiled. But Billy was scared of him. Henry wasn't exactly strong but Billy was weak.

Ed replied " This is funny coming from Henry " Square" Alvarez."

Henry said " Hey, it's Square Mile, Goliath. And don't you and Brain Boy here forget it."

Ed rolled his eyes before he began to continue reading the Lord of the Rings book.

Henry suddenly grabbed the book from Ed's hands with a evil grin on his face.

Ed shouted " Give me my book back!"

Henry replied " Why should I, Goliath? Huh? Give me a reason." before he passed the book to one of his friends as if it was a football.

Ed said with a smirk on his face " Then I'll tell Miss Grey and she'll tell your parents."

Gary, Henry's second-in-command said " Henry, maybe we should leave him alone."

Henry scoffed and replied " Don't worry, boys. He's bluffing." before he made a threatening step towards Ed and Billy.

Ed shouted " Miss Grey!"

A woman in her mid-30's with red hair walked over to where Ed, Billy, Henry and his gang were. This was Miss Grey, one of Ed and Billy's teachers. She saw potential in Ed and thought that some day, he might be an artist.

Henry said " Forget about the little squares and their book. Let's get out of here." and he motioned for his friends to follow him.

They kicked the book, stomped on it and even spat on it. Ed had looked on with shock and horror. Miss Grey went over to Ed and Billy with a look of concern on her face.

Miss Grey asked " Ed, Billy, is everything alright?"

Ed nodded and answered " Yes, Miss Grey. Everything is OK." with a small smile on his face before he picked up the book and dusted it off.

Miss Grey said " If anything happens to either of you, I want you to go to me or another staff member. OK?"

The boys nodded and Miss Grey left. Ed looked down on the book sadly.

Billy said " So, Ed, the new Lord of the Rings book is coming up next month. I'm saving up to get it. What about you?"

Ed replied in a sad tone " I have it at home. I found one of them in some bookstore and ran with it as fast as I could."

Billy ignored the fact that Ed stole the book and asked " Hey, Ed, why are you sad right now?"

Ed answered " My uncle gave me this book. Right before he went to fight in Korea."

There was suddenly silence from both Ed and Billy. The sun was shining and the sky was blue, but there was a heavy thunderstorm in Ed's heart.

* * *

Background (continued)

Ed's life was dominated by his little sister, who hated Ed for reasons unknown even to herself. But Sarah could have hated Ed to the point of infinity and he still would have loved her just as much.

That love would be put to the test on June 23rd, 1958. The day before, Sarah had been playing with two young African- American children. Today, nobody would even have blinked but this was 1958. A time where African- Americans were still discriminated against.

So Ed had been walking around town and left Sarah at the local playground. He knew that Sarah had been playing with African-American children the day before but he didn't care and neither did his parents. After all, they were all equal and made by one person.

But it did matter to three racist bigots who were staying in town. They were looking for Sarah who was playing in the sandbox.

The first one asked " Who could this little reserve coconut be? This town is so small that you'd think we would have found her already."

The first one is named Squark and he was 17. He had a hatred for anyone who was non-white or was friendly to non-whites. So he fit in with the other two, of course.

The second one was Leo, the leader. At 21, he was the oldest and most experienced. He did time at Sing Sing for attacking seven black men and raping three black women. So he earned the respect of Squark.

The third one was named Ripley. At only 15 years of age, he was the youngest of the three. However, this didn't mean that he wasn't just as experienced as any of them. He was less devoted to the racist subculture than Leo and Squark, though. He had abused and attacked non-whites a few before but this was probably the first time he attacked a "race traitor".

Ripley said " Yeah, Leo. Where do you think she could be?"

Leo answered " I don't know, Rip. This town isn't that small, guys. We still have to check the suburbs."

Squark said " No, we don't. I see her. She's at that playground."

The three began walking over to where Sarah was. She was in the sandbox, playing with her dolls.

Squark looked at Sarah and said " Hey, kid! Do you know who these two children are?" before he took out a Polaroid picture of two young children. These two children were African- American children Sarah knew and liked.

Sarah now knew that they were looking for someone who knew the children, but she didn't know that they were racist bigots or that it was her.

Sarah replied " Yeah, that's Allen McMillan and Catherine Ezra. What do you want with them?"

Leo decided to let Squark take over this time. After all, who better to give this race traitor their initial punishment than somebody who's used to it?

Squark tore up the picture before he said " They're apes. What we want with them doesn't matter. What we want with **you **does."

Sarah backed away and asked " What do you want with me, huh?"

Squark answered " We want you gone, brownie lover." before he took out a dagger. Leo and Ripley walked over to where Squark had Sarah cornered. They had daggers too.

Squark looked around. Everybody was too busy with their daily activities to notice them. Thank god for that.

Squark said " Time to die, dogun."

Ed was walking around when he felt a chill go down his spine. Maybe he forgot something.

Ed asked a passing lady " 4:30 pm."

Ed's eyes widened. Oh no! That's what he forgot! He was supposed to pick Sarah up at the playground. He ran over to the playground to get Sarah and go home.

As he got to the playground, he saw Sarah surrounded by three men who all had knives. His eyes widened and then narrowed. He glared at them. He didn't know who these guys are or what they wanted with his little sister, but they wouldn't get away with it!

He tackled the one in the middle of the group with the shirt, suspenders and the hat. Leo threw Ed to the ground and all three of them began to beat him up. Squark took out a knife and stabbed Ed.

Ed stood up in bed, screaming. He slapped himself in the face. He stopped screaming and got out of bed. He rubbed his eyes and looked at the blaring red numbers of his alarm clock.

5:37 am. Oh, then no matter he felt so tired. He could no longer go to sleep so he decided to go downstairs into the kitchen.

Ed thought " Wow, what a horrible dream! And it felt, seemed so real."

Ed got out a bowl, a carton of milk and a box of Chunky Puffs. He poured the Chunky Puffs into the bowl and then poured the milk into the bowl. He got a spoon and began eating.

He decided to turn on the radio and listen to the news.

" _There had been a tragic murder. A young man, of 13 or 14 years of age had been killed at the Lenley Playground on Green and Lawrence. According to eyewitness reports, the young man had been attacked by three young men, ages 15-20. Two knives, a dagger and a bowie knife have been found near the victim's body. The attackers are still at large."_

Ed turned off the radio and thought " Weird, that sounds just like what happened in my dream."

He shrugged and continued eating his Chunky Puffs.

* * *

Afterward

Edward Horace McKenzie had been murdered on June 23rd, 1958. His sister would join him only three days later. She was at the Lenley Playground with her two friends and her nanny when the killers came back again. This time, she did not survive.

Cain " Squark" Jennings, Leonardo Denwell and Ripley Lesia were arrested on July 3rd, 1958. Jennings and Denwell was convicted of five counts of murder in the second degree: Ed McKenzie; his younger sister Sarah McKenzie; their friends Allen McMillan and Catherine Ezra; and their nanny, Alexandra Turner. Lesia was acquitted of assault and conspiracy to commit murder.

Jennings was released in 1994. He was sent back to prison five years later for the attempted murder of Jay North. He died in 2001, at age 60.

Denwell was not released unlike his friend. He died in prison in 2009, at age 72.

Lesia had three children and eight grandchildren. He moved to Peach Creek after he graduated college in 1966. He still lives and is currently the only living person involved in the murders.

Ed's grave was placed next to Eddy's while Sarah's grave was placed not far away in the cemetery. Ed's parents and the Peach Creek School Board set up a scholarship fund in Ed's name in 1968, about 10 years after the murder took place.

* * *

**Ed and Sarah were the next victims! Who will be next?**

**Benny : Let's see...who's left. Kevin, Nazz, Jimmy, Double D, Lee, Marie and May...**

**Keep on guessing, Benny. Read and review, everyone!**


	5. Nazz

The Purgatory chapter 5

Background

In late 1975, two graduates of George D. Chamberlain High School in Tampa, Florida met each other. Kaitlyn " Kate" Brunswick and Ethan Lincoln both got married on February 9th, 1976.

They had a child, Nazari Lincoln on March 21 of the following year in Tampa, Florida. This was their third child, following the births of Michael Lincoln and Catherine Brunswick.

Nazari, Michael and Catherine all lived in Tampa with their mother and father until Nazari was six years old. Kate was getting tired of living in Tampa and the burden of raising three children was starting to really get to her. Ethan had tried to change her mind about moving out of Tampa but Kate was resistant and wanted to move.

But Ethan persuaded her to at least wait a couple of years before moving. Nazari had attended Carrollwood Elementary School until they moved away along with Michael and later Catherine. Ethan and Kate were looking to move somewhere comfortable.

They wanted to live in a town that had that suburban feel but was close to the city. Peach Creek didn't exactly fit the bill but it was close enough. But Ethan and Kate had decided to wait until Nazari had finished the third grade.

When Nazari finished the third grade in June of 1986, the Lincolns moved from Tampa to Peach Creek. Nazari began attending Peach Creek Elementary and was popular at the school. That was when Nazari got the nickname that she still uses even in the afterlife: Nazz.

This is one event in Nazz's life...

* * *

Nazz was 9 years old and she attended fourth grade at Peach Creek Elementary. She didn't really enjoy living in Peach Creek but she tried to make the best of it for her parents. Well, them and her siblings.

It felt weird being in a new town. She just started school and everybody either hated her, wanted to be her best friend or just ignored her as if she didn't exist.

But she made two new friends: shy, quiet third- grader Emily Grey and loud, mischievous fifth-grader Lauren North. Neither one really liked the other at first but they've gotten used to each other so Nazz thought that they were both finally becoming civil towards one another.

Nazz was leaving the school, wearing a black T-shirt and jeans. She was preparing to walk home with her sister and brother. Michael and Cathy got out at the same time as her and she was ready to leave with Emily and Lauren.

Michael got out of the building with his younger sister Catherine, panting from all the running he had to do. He looked at Nazz with an apologetic look on his face.

He said " Sorry, sis. Miss Henderson made us stay late so we had to rush out as fast as we could."

Nazz shrugged and she replied " It's a good thing that you two did. Emily, Lauren and I were about to leave and walk home without you."

The five of them began walking to the Lincolns' house as they talked. Michael talked about how he was doing on the school's baseball team, the Giants.

When Nazz heard that name, she started laughing. As she wiped the tears from her eyes, she said " I'm surprised that the San Francisco Giants hasn't sued the school yet for copyright infringement."

Michael shrugged and then replied with " The name doesn't matter. We're a good team and we're going to prove it to everybody in town when we beat the Snakes on Friday."

Lauren said " The Snakes? The Aplendale Snakes? The team that's secured the first-place spot in the county since Kennedy's been president?"

Michael nodded and replied with " The very same. But their spot as the kings will be dethroned on Friday when we destroy the Snakes."

Nazz said " Yeah, I bet that the Giants will take them down."

Michael put a hand to a heart and replied " Come on, Nazz. Where's your school spirit?"

Nazz said calmly " I have school spirit, Mike. But I'm keeping it real. I mean, have you seen how our team is doing this season?"

Lauren said " I have to agree with Nazz. Our team sucks and that's the truth."

Michael replied " Look, both of you are wrong. We've been getting better. Have you seen how many runs we got when we beat the Portman Jaguars?"

Emily pointed out something after she said " Michael, the Jaguars aren't even that good in the first place. So I'm not too sure how you might do against the Snakes."

Nazz, Catherine and Lauren nodded as they had agreed with Lauren. Michael sighed as he glared at Nazz and Lauren. Lauren replied with a equal glare and Nazz smirked at her older brother.

* * *

Background (continued)

Nazz had a good life with her family and friends in Peach Creek. She was very popular so she had a lot of friends. But she still stuck to Emily, Lauren and a girl named Christy Goldfield. Nazz graduated from Peach Creek Elementary in June of 1988. She then attended Peach Creek Junior High School with Lauren and Christy that September. Emily joined them the following year.

Nazz wore the typical clothes of the late 1980's. She wore a T-shirt or sweatshirt, occasionally a flight jacket, varsity jacket or hooded sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. She also wore bike shorts or a skirt.

She got along with her siblings but not so much with her parents. She seemed to dislike her father in particular. After a confrontation with him, she would either go up to her bedroom or leave the house to go over to the home of one of her friends. Either way, she would not be seen until morning.

If Nazz knew what would be coming, she would have been a lot more nicer to her parents. But then again, Nazz couldn't stop fate. Even if fate existed in the form of three people.

Nazz Lincoln died on December 24th, 1990. Christmas Eve was a day that would change her life forever.

* * *

Nazz looked around. The living room looked beautiful, especially with the tree her dad cut down in the forest. She lifted up her little sister, Katie so that she could put up the angel at the top of the tree. Nazz enjoyed Christmas because it was so peaceful.

She even got along with her dad, who she had been having issues with in the past year. Nazz remembered where she put the presents for the family so that she could put them under the tree tonight.

Nazz decided to go out and see Lauren. She only lived a couple of blocks away so Nazz felt that she was definitely not at risk of any harm.

Nazz put on a grey, black and yellow varsity jacket before she went outside. Her father had wanted to know where she was going since he was concerned. Of course, it was the early 1990's and the fact that it was Christmas Eve doubled Ethan's concern for his teenaged daughter.

Ethan asked " Where are you going, Nazari?"

Nazz froze. Almost nobody called her except for Mom and even then she only said it when Nazz did something wrong or shocking. But she decided to remain calm and not act so paranoid.

Nazz calmly answered " Oh, I'm just going over to Lauren's house. Is something wrong?"

Ethan felt a storm of relief as he sat down on the couch in the living room. For a few moments, he thought that he could have been seeing a boy. Not Nazari.

He didn't mind her seeing a boy in the future. He couldn't keep her sheltered from the world forever. But he didn't want her to have a boyfriend right now, when she's not even 14 yet.

Ethan nodded his approval and Nazz went outside to walk the two blocks to Lauren's house. As Nazz walked to Lauren's house, she looked around. Many houses in the neighborhood were decorated with Christmas lights. She put her hands in the pockets of her varsity jacket as she got to Lauren's house.

She didn't even need to ring the doorbell. Just as she was about to open the door, a red-faced Lauren opened the door. Nazz walked inside and looked around.

Nazz said " Hey".

Emily and Lauren both responded with " Hey".

Nazz looked around for Christy. Where was she? Nazz knew that Christy was going over to Lauren's house.

Emily answered as if she was telepathic " Christy is upstairs, doing whatever she does."

Nazz asked " So why is Lauren's face red?"

Lauren tried to answer but Emily managed to answer first.

Emily answered " Lauren seemed like she was getting attention from girls because of her aura. So we decided to test it. That's why her face is so red." with a smirk.

Lauren angrily said " Thanks a lot, my so-called friend."

Both Nazz and Emily rolled her eyes. Although Lauren can act angry, both of them knew that she was just teasing Emily as usual.

That night, Nazz was in her bedroom at home. She poked her head out her bedroom door and looked around, just to make sure. After she made sure that the coast was clear, she went back into the bedroom and began to take out the presents.

She had to save up for nearly two and a half years to buy all these presents but with the way life was going on now, they needed all the joy they could get. Especially with how things have been lately. Nazz hoped that this would cheer up the rest of the family.

She put the presents into a large shopping bag and began to tiptoe downstairs. Nazz looked at the clock. It was 12:30 am.

Nazz smiled as she thought " Great timing. I put the presents there, go back upstairs and in 6 or 7 hours, everyone will be opening their presents."

She had gone down to the living room where the Christmas tree was. Nazz noticed that there were already some Christmas presents underneath the tree.

Nazz rolled her eyes as she smiled. She thought " Looks like Mom and Dad planned ahead. I guess I'll be opening those along with everyone else in the morning."

Nazz took the presents out of the large shopping bag and had begun to place them underneath the Christmas tree. As she was doing so, she heard a window open and then footsteps. Nazz looked around.

Nazz thought " Looks like one of the kids decided to sneak downstairs. I'll try and trick them in order to keep them away from the tree."

Nazz called out " Mike, is that you?"

Somebody replied, shouting " Yeah, it's me!"

Nazz raised an eyebrow. That didn't sound anything like Mike at all. Nazz began to head toward the stairs when she was suddenly grabbed by an unknown person.

She turned around to look at him. He must have been in his late-thirties and he was wearing black. He also had black hair, startling green eyes, scars on his face and a crooked smile that looked so wicked she almost gasped out loud.

The man chuckled before he said " Where do you think you're going, sweetheart?"

Nazz began to scream " Mom! Dad!" before the man covered Nazz's mouth with his hand.

The man whispered " You're not going anywhere, so why don't you just calm down? Hey, if you all cooperate, we just might let you all go."

The man shouted " Genesis! I've got the girl! Now let's get the stuff!"

As Nazz was dragged to the stairway by the man, the man whispered in her ear " Name's Cleaves. Just remember that when we do a few...things...later on."

Nazz could feel Cleaves' growing erection practically grinding against her behind. And in the case of any non-sex crazed adolescent girl, it completely sickened her. Of course, Nazz had a plan to escape. She would attack Cleaves and run upstairs.

She would then alert her family members and barricade herself in her room. She would call 911 before using her clothes to make a rope and climb down the rope to get herself and her siblings to safety.

So Nazz initiated that plan by turning down and kneeing Cleaves where the sun doesn't shine.

Cleaves fell to the ground as Nazz ran upstairs quickly to alert her parents.

Cleaves shouted " Genesis! Ian! The little bitch ran upstairs! Get her!"

Nazz tried to run and tell her parents but the door was locked from the inside. Nazz shook her head and banged on the door. She heard her parents getting out of bed.

Nazz screamed " Help!"

Michael came out of his room with a panicked look on his face.

Nazz said " Mike!"

Michael replied " Nazz!" before he looked at the stairway, his eyes widening. He turned back to Nazz with worry, concern, shock and panic showing on his face.

He shouted " Nazz, run!"

There was a loud gunshot as Michael fell to the floor, clutching his heart.

Cleaves, Genesis and Ian were standing behind Michael with Genesis holding a pistol in his hand. All three of them were smirking.

Nazz shrieked before she ran into her room and locked the door. The three began to pound on her door.

" Oh, Lincoln, come out, come out wherever you are..."

" You can't hide behind this door forever."

" Just open the door."

The three began to pound and beat on the door even more.

" Open the door and we might let you live! Open it now!"

Nazz whimpered and decided to hide in her closet. She left the closet slightly open so she could see what was going on.

The three men began tossing things around her room, looking for her.

Ian said " She isn't here, guys. She must have gone out the window or something."

Genesis replied " Come on, Ian. You really think that Lincoln could have survived that? Second floor or first, she's still high up. So she must still be in the house."

Cleaves was looking at the closet Nazz was in and caught her eye. As Nazz looked at Cleaves, she swore that she felt a shiver run down her spine.

Cleaves walked over to the closet and pulled it open. He pushed the clothes away, revealing Nazz.

Cleaves grinned and said " Hey, look! I found our little runaway right here!"

He dragged Nazz out of the closet while she was screaming " No!"

Nazz landed on the floor, crying as she said " What are you going to do to me?"

As Genesis and Ian left the room, Cleaves smirked and replied " Making you into a woman, sweetheart. Or should I say Nazari?"

Nazz felt another shiver go down her spine. How did he know her real name? She tried to crawl away but Cleaves grabbed her arm and turned her back to him.

Her eyes widened as Cleaves began to take off her pants.

She shouted " No, no please!"

Cleaves replied " Don't worry. It won't be so bad." before he kissed her on the lips.

Nazz felt sickened from the kiss. It didn't feel or seem normal. It didn't make her have butterflies in her stomach but it gave her this strange feeling.

A few hours later, Nazz woke up. She looked around, panicked. She then realized that what happened before wasn't a dream. This was really happening and she needed to go before it was too late.

However, it was already too late. The three men surrounded her, Genesis and Cleaves grinning evilly. She backed away, still on the floor and even more afraid than before.

Nazz thought " I have to get out of here. Away from these sickening perverts. Oh my god...where's Mom and Dad?"

Nazz looked around in a panicked way and screamed " Mom! Dad! Cathy-"

Genesis interrupted her by saying " Don't even try, Nazzie. You've been conked up for three or four hours. Your precious mommy and daddy and your brothers and sisters are already dead. The only person left is you."

Ian smirked as he held up the rope made of clothing that Nazz had made while she was in the closet and said " Trying to escape, huh, Nazzie? Fine, you can go down...in a body bag, that is."

Nazz's eyes widened as she realized what the three meant. She had gotten up and tried to back away but she had ended up in Genesis's arms who held her extremely tight. The other two men had paced back and forth with evil and wicked smiles.

Nazz looked at Cleaves who shrugged and said " Sorry, princess. If you had just been a nice, good girl, we probably would have let you live. But it's too late now."

Nazz tried to run to the window but she was practically pushed out of it by a smirking Genesis. She most likely would have fallen and died if she had not grabbed and held on to the ledge. However, her captors had noticed this.

Genesis pushed one hand off as he smirked evilly down on Nazz. He began to poke at the fingers of her other hand with a wicked grin on his face.

" This little piggy went to the market." he said as he shoved off one finger.

" This piggy went to Miami." he continued.

" This piggy had pork chops." he continued as he poked at her middle finger.

Nazz began to scream " Help! Somebody! Help!"

Ian looked at her and said " Shut up, you little whore. Like anybody's gonna bother to hear you." and then looked at Genesis who smirked and nodded.

Genesis replied " Thanks, Ian. Now for finger number 4. This little piggy went to the bank."

Nazz only had one finger left, slowly holding on to the windowsill. She looked down at the ground in fear.

Genesis grinned as he said " This little piggy went-" then he pushed Nazz's last finger off the sill.

Nazz screamed " AHHH!"

Genesis smirked and said coolly " Oops. Guess I'm all out of piggies."

Nazz screamed as she looked down at the ground approaching fast. She woke up with a start, looking around in her room. She touched her heart, panting with fear.

She soon calmed down as she realized where she was. She stared at her alarm clock, the red numbers blaring 3:39 am. Nazz realized that she could not go back to sleep so she got out of bed.

Nazz walked downstairs and into her kitchen. She looked around for something to eat. She tried to find something to eat but she just couldn't.

Nazz thought " I just can't eat. I feel like I'm sick, like someone did something horrible to me. God, I hope not."

She sighed and sat down at her kitchen table. She took out a few pieces of paper and unconsciously began to draw. Nazz was unaware that she was even drawing at all.

* * *

Afterward

Nazari Lincoln had been killed on December 25, 1990. Nicolas Theodore Lincoln was born just after her death. He was found near his mother's body a few hours after her death. He spent the next year or two in foster homes before custody of him was given to his relatives.

Nazari had been found to have been killed by a fall. MEs had determined that she was either pushed out of a window and shoved off the ledge of one. Nazari's entire family, save for Dewey and Katie Lincoln had been killed that Christmas morning. The two survived because they hid in a wardrobe. Dewey, Katie and Nico had spent the next few years in foster homes before they were sent to their relatives.

Nazz's attack was so traumatic that even in the cul-de-sac, it still has a slight effect on her. She constantly has nightmares and strange dreams. She now is slightly wary of boys or men being near her when before she actually welcomed them.

Noach " Genesis" Ray, Cleveland " Cleaves" Jennings and Ian Harris were never found. Harris was arrested at a gas station in Fort Mill and charged with conspiracy to commit sexual abuse, murder in the first degree and assault. Harris was found guilty of all three crimes and sentenced to life without parole. Ray was arrested in May of 1994 and charged with conspiracy to commit sexual abuse, murder in the first degree, assault, attempted assault, attempted murder and rape. He was also given life without parole. Jennings was never found and considered to be still at large.

Nazari was buried along with her siblings in the cemetery. Her headstone read " Nazari Elizabeth Lincoln: A Kind Daughter, Sister, Friend, Mother: March 21, 1977- December 25, 1990".

* * *

**That ends chapter 5! Who's gonna be next? How will they go to the Purgatory?**

**Benny: I'm guessing that it's Kevin, in the dining room with a golf club.**

**Close but no cigar, Benny! Oh just kidding, you weren't even close.**

**Benny: That's nice to know.**

**So Rosh Hashanah is coming up! Enjoy the holiday!**

**And read and review! By the way, all flames will be used to roast marshmallows and hot dogs or to give warmth.**


	6. Double D

The Purgatory chapter 6

**So here we are! Halloween's here and there's a new chapter!**

**Benny: Let's get on with this. I want to watch my show, not be stuck watching Ed, Edd n' Eddy characters go to heaven.**

**It's not heaven, Benny. We all know that. So let's read it!**

* * *

Background

In 1982, Matthew Green was a computer genius and a graduate of MIT. Green came from a upper middle-class family and was the second oldest in his family. However, Green acted like a normal teenager of the time. He wore Hawaiian shirts, jeans and T-shirts. But people who knew Green were still in shock when they found out that he had married young, timid Maria Lopez in mid-1982.

Lopez was a quiet, timid girl who was relatively successful in her blue-collar family. Green and Lopez had a child, Eddward Green on the morning of May 12th, 1984.

Wanting to move out of the Green residence, they quickly found a house in the suburb of Peach Creek. It was in a area not far from the outskirts of the city but it still had this nice, calm suburban feel. Plus, the large house the Greens owned wasn't really too much of a place to raise a child.

Matthew and Maria both loved Eddward very much but they also had to earn money in order to help the family. Therefore, they had to leave for their jobs very early in the morning and come back home late at night.

They knew that Double D had school but they also knew that he had to do the chores. So they left him sticky Post-It notes and wrote the chores that they wanted him to do on them. But they still paid attention to Double D and they did even more so when they found out a few of his talents.

* * *

Double D was wearing a blue T-shirt and jeans. He was about eight years old. He was sitting down by the top of the stairwell so that he could hear what his parents are saying.

Matthew said " Maria, we're not sending Eddward to a special, private school. I understand that he's smart but we cannot send him."

Maria replied with a stubborn tone " Matthew, most children his age play on a Super Nintendo. Our child could practically make them."

Matthew said " Maria, Eddward's only eight. Even if he could make a Super Nintendo out of recycled metal, plastic foil, magnets, screws, nuts and bolts, we have to make sure that he's alright."

Maria replied, almost shouting " I'm sure that my son is alright! I want him to be able to reach his full potential, Mateo!"

Matthew said " It will be difficult for Eddward to adjust in private school. Mari, we don't even know if we have the money."

Maria had tried to calm down slightly and Double D could see that. But there were still tension between Matthew and Maria. The silence was almost as bad as the yelling to Double D. It frightened him. Only because they weren't talking, they were arguing or just doing nothing.

Matthew put his hands around Maria and said " Look, Maria, let's just keep Eddward in public school at least until he finishes the fifth grade. Then we'll see if he wants to go to a private school."

Maria sighed before she thought it over and replied " Alright but when he finishes elementary school, we'll see if he makes the right choice." before she brushed her hand on Matthew's cheek.

Double D stopped looking down and instead put his hands on his forehead. Oh god no. They were actually starting to go through the LAY process again. Having them groaning and moaning in bed while he is trying to sleep is almost bad as them just yelling and arguing and not talking to one another.

Then he sighed. Oh well, sometimes there are some things that you cannot really stop in life. He was taught that by reading some books his grandparents gave him. One of them was the Catcher in the Rye, which he liked.

* * *

Background (continued)

Even though Double D lived in Peach Creek, he still encountered problems like in the inner city. In the early 1990's, gangs and drugs were a part of urban life even though it was a dangerous one. Those parts quickly spread to suburban areas and towns. By 1995, the year that Double D was in the fourth grade, some of the most major gangs had branches in Peach Creek.

That didn't say that Peach Creek was a bad place to live. But the gangs didn't make life peaceful, comfortable or easier at all. Most gang members needed money and preyed on young kids like Double D in order to get it. This was one of the reasons why Maria wanted to send him to private school.

In 1994, Double D had a group of friends. They were all different in some ways and similar in others. But they all got along.. somewhat. Double D's friends sometimes teased him for his intelligence but it was all in good, clean fun.

Plus, he proved his bravery in the spring of 1995 during the so-called dreaded " dodge ball incident".

* * *

It was a warm, calm afternoon at Peach Creek Elementary. Double D was wearing his orange T-shirt and pants with Nikes. His friends were all wearing different clothes as they were out in the schoolyard, watching everybody else play or talk.

But then they saw the kids from the PE class outside, playing dodgeball. None of them really cared about PE since while they took it, they weren't horrible at sports but they weren't going to be the next Michael Jordan or Ivan Rodriguez. Save for a few of them, the group was pretty indifferent when it came to sports.

Double D was talking with his friends when a dodgeball landed at his feet. It had came over from where the PE class was playing. Double D just ignored the large, red, rubber ball until he heard a shout.

" Hey, stocking hat, why don't you give us that ball?"

That shout came from Cander Morgan, fifth grader and one of the biggest jerks in the entire school. His real name was Candace but only a few people knew that He was an angel to the teachers and a charmer to the girls. But for anybody that wasn't Cander's friend, he considered them scum. Unfortunately, that included Double D.

Double D hesitantly picked up the ball before he threw it as hard as he could. He excepted Cander to catch the ball but apparently, Cander was lazy. The ball barely went above Cander's head and instead hit the brick wall behind him. To say that Cander was annoyed was an understatement in itself.

Cander shouted " What was that? What are you trying to do, Green? You almost took my head off!"

Double D replied " I'm sorry, Cander. I assumed that at the angle I was throwing the projectile, you would put your hands above your head to grab the dodgeball."

Jerome, a friend of Double D's had put his own two cents in. He felt that he should have considering that Double D was technically in the right.

Jerome said " Yeah, preppy. You are playing dodgeball. The key word in that: dodge. The opposite of dodge is catch. Aren't you smart enough to know it or do you just get by on looking like a wannabe Ken doll?"

Double D couldn't help but laugh. Cander did look kind of like a wannabe Ken doll sometimes. But he still managed to pass every year with decent grades of C's and B's or the occasional B-plus. Still, most of the school did better than Cander when it came to grades.

Of course, Cander got angry at that. So just what do you do when you're pissed off, you have three people nearby that hates you, you have your whole PE class standing behind you and you've got about 30 dodgeballs? The predictable thing.

Cander picked up a dodgeball, reared his arm back, aimed the ball at Double D and shouted " Catch this, you little geek!" before he threw it.

Double D caught the ball in his hands, which made some of the guys in the PE class gasp because they didn't except him to catch it. He then noticed the rest of Cander's PE class picking up dodgeballs. He readied himself to throw the dodgeball in his hands. But then he saw something that would cause him to move quickly.

29 dodgeballs heading right for him. Double D blocked each and every one of them, causing jaws to drop and eyes to widen from both his friends and the PE class. What was even more shocking was when Double D threw each of the 29 dodgeballs, hitting their mark.

Double D's friends cheered him on as dodgeballs collided with stomachs, torsos and faces. Double D smirked. This was great. He finally had a chance to prove himself to his friends and he did it. Nothing could have ruined this moment for Double D. Almost nothing.

Cander got up, angry and fierce. He picked up a dodgeball and threw it after shouting " Take this, stocking hat!"

Double D, already having to block the dodgeballs coming from him was unprepared to deal with the one that Cander threw. So it hit his stomach and Double D kneeled to the ground, groaning and holding his stomach in pain.

Cander grinned as he was high-fived by some of the other kids in his PE class. Other kids in the PE class winced in sympathy for Double D as usually when Cander throws a dodgeball, it always gets its target very hard. But Double D's friends didn't like what Cander just did for good reason.

Jerome said " What's your problem, Morgan?"

Cander replied " My problem? I just took down your weak, little friend. It proves how good he is: he is nothing."

Lucas was one of Double D's friends who had black hair and green eyes. He wore a flannel shirt, a black T-shirt and jeans with white Nikes.

Lucas picked up the dodgeball, aimed it at Cander's groin and said " Prove this, preppy."

Lucas threw the dodgeball which made a direct hit with Cander's groin as Cander groaned and held his groin. Even people who disliked winced as getting hit in the groin wasn't a pleasant experience. Especially when it's with a dodgeball.

Cander hissed out " You stupid, little punk. You don't know what you just did, do you?"

Lucas replied " Yeah, I know what you just did. I taught you a little life lesson, Morgan."

Cander said " About what? Being a stupid, little coward?"

Double D had now gotten up even though he was struggling. But he noticed Cander trash talking Lucas and came up with a idea. He knew just what to do.

Double D replied " Actually, I think my friend Lucas here means that your little life lesson was something called karma. Besides, I find it ironic that he's the one being called a coward by a wannabe Fabio named Candace."

Jerome, Lucas and the rest of Double D's friends laughed at that. They had to since it was so rare for Double D to trash talk somebody and so hilarious that they felt it needed a standing ovation by them.

Cander growled as he said " Why you little punk. I oughta give you another dodgeball to the stomach."

Double D looked at his friends and then at Cander as he replied " Go ahead then, Candace. Un garde. Take your best shot."

Cander stepped forward menacingly as did Double D and his friends. The glares and clenched fists were interrupted by the shrill blow of a whistle.

Mister Anderson has been a PE teacher for 20 years and people say that he was the PE teacher of Michael Lincoln, a former baseball player at the school who died 5 years ago. Jerome said that since Michael's death, Anderson has been very aggressive. It seemed weird but Double D thought that it was just Mister Anderson's way of grieving about someone.

Mister Anderson asked " Is there a problem, boys?"

Cander shook his head, smiled and answered " No, sir. We were just playing dodgeball. My team won." before he looked at Double D, Jerome, Lucas and a few of Double D's other friends with a glare. They returned the glare with the exception of Double D, who just looked at Cander with a calm expression. Needless to say, that irritated Cander even more.

Mister Anderson said " Get back to it then, Morgan." before he looked at Double D and Jerome.

Mister Anderson said to them " Be careful of what you do. I don't care about it but I don't need a hospital form on my hands. So try to keep out of trouble."

Double D nodded and said " Yes, sir."

Jerome nodded and said " Yeah, Mr. A. We'll keep our distance from them."

Mister Anderson walked away from the group. As soon as he was out of sight, Double D's friends began congratulating him on both getting Cander back and having Lucas' back.

Cander glared fiercely at Double D from a short distance away. Green

* * *

Background (continued)

Double D had a calm, peaceful and good life. He graduated from Peach Creek Elementary that June with his friends. Some of them went to different middle schools but they all kept in contact. Double D went to Peach Creek Junior High with Jerome, Lucas, Joel Hamborn and Chris Lowe.

Matthew and Maria began looking at private schools to send Double D to but had decided not to send Double D to private school. Double D was occasionally bullied in middle school but for the most part, he was left alone. Double D did good in school, especially in English, math and science.

In late 1997, Double D considered where he wanted to go to high school. He did want to go to Peach Creek High, even though he had gotten a few scholarships from other schools. Double D had even taken the SHSAT in case he wasn't accepted to Peach Creek High or didn't get into any other schools in the area.

On June 25, 1998, it was a beautiful summer day for Double D. He was in the chemistry lab, finishing up one last lab before he would walk out of Peach Creek Junior High for the final time with his best friends by his side. Unfortunately, poor Double D would never get the chance to leave even the lab.

This is what happened...

* * *

Double D looked around. Things were going well on the last day of school. He would be leaving soon but he just had to finish one more lab experiment for his science teacher before he could walk out those doors with Jerome, Joel, Chris and Lucas. Having a lab partner like Georgina Barton isn't very bad either. Right? Not so much.

Georgina was 15 and had been left back a year. She was blonde with blue hair and a nice figure, which sometimes helped her. In the beginning, she didn't really like Double D that much. At first, she refused to do the lab at all. Then when she did, she tried to persuade Double D. Of course, Double D was persistent so Georgina moved to bribery. One afternoon, she offered Double D 5 hundred dollars to do the entire lab. When he refused, she offered a higher price: 2 grand. Now one side of Double D was thinking that 2 thousand dollars was a lot of money and doing the whole lab wouldn't be so bad.

But the other side, the more controlling side told him to refuse the money. It was bribery and it wasn't right that Double D should have to do all the work while Georgina got credit for it, even if it was split 50-50. So Georgina went onto blackmail. At first, she couldn't find anything on Double D. He was a good kid, almost perfect. B's and A's with the occasional A-plus. Had a group of friends who treated him well. His parents had a good marriage and he was nice to everyone.

Then Georgina found something. Double D had been involved in an incident back in April of 1995. Him and two fellow students, Lucas Mitchell and Jerome Taylor, had been attacked and attacked other students of a gym class with dodgeballs. Double D was hit in the stomach with a dodgeball and another boy who started the entire incident was hit with the groin with a dodgeball by Mitchell.

The incident nearly erupted into a fight if it wasn't for the fact that the PE teacher appeared and the two groups dispersed. She thought that she could blackmail Double D with this information. However, she was in for a shock. Double D didn't even budge because he no longer cared about the incident. She was stunned. She had tried almost tactic in the book and she resorted to a final resort that she never thought she would go to: seduction.

That day, Georgina appeared in the lab, calm and cheerful. She was wearing a black sleeveless top and a blue-green skirt. Her blonde hair was slightly curly today as her blue-grey eyes looked at Double D before she went over to the table. Georgina couldn't believe what she was doing. She was no longer experiencing seduction but actual, pure love.

But at that moment, she didn't really care. She just wanted to finish this lab with Double D and then go home with him. So she looked at the instructions. They had to mix one chemical with another and then record the results. Alright, that was a pretty easy task. Georgina sat down on the stool next to Double D at the table and curled her hair.

Georgina smiled and said " Hey, Double D."

Double D smiled nervously and replied " G-Georgina. Charmed to meet you." before he kissed her hand.

She put her hand back and slightly blushed. Joel, a guy with blond-brown hair and Lucas were also in the room. They were in moderate shock. Did that just happen? Did Double D make Georgina Barton, queen of seduction, blush?

Joel said " Did that just happen, Lucas?"

Lucas nodded and replied " Yep, Joel. Double D just made Georgina Barton blush. I'm in shock right now."

Joel asked " By the way, where is Jerome and Chris?"

Lucas answered " Outside, in front of the school. They're waiting for us and once Double D finishes this lab, we'll be out of here." with a smirk.

Georgina asked curiously " So which chemicals are we mixing?"

Double D answered " Nitric acid with a base. Could you hand me that sheet over there?"

Georgina said " Sure." before she picked up the instruction sheet and she also put something else in the hand holding the sheet.

She put the sheet and the item into Double D's hand.

Double D put the sheet down on the table as he said " Thanks". He paused as he saw something else in his hand. It was a thin ring with a clear stone in the center.

Double D raised his eyebrow as he asked " A ring?"

Georgina shook her head as she answered " A promise ring. After all, we are in love. Right?"

Double D blushed as he said " Y- Yes. We are, Georgina."

Georgina replied " I'll pour the chemical." as she looked over at Double D with a slight blush on his face. She picked up a nearby chemical and got an idea.

Double D said "OK, now we-" before he was interrupted by Georgina kissing him on the lips and pouring the chemical into the other one.

Georgina and Double D stopped kissing, Double D with a blush on his face. Double D picked up a nearby chemical and poured it into another one.

Double D began taking notes on the chemical that he just mixed and handed Georgina a notebook.

He asked " Could you take some notes on the first one?"

Georgina nodded and began taking notes on the chemical that she mixed. She wondered about what her name would be after her and Double D got married. If they did, of course. Georgina Green? Georgina Lopez? They both had a nice ring to it.

Both seemed hard at work, although Double D seemed more concentrated at the task than Georgina. However, they were unaware of the disaster that would soon happen.

Lucas said " Double D is such a lucky dog."

Joel replied " Yeah, he is. Wait, did Georgina pour that chemical into the base?"

Lucas said " Yeah, she did. Personally, I'm surprised that she got it right. This is Georgina we're talking about."

Joel shook his head nervous and replied " That wasn't a base. That was rubbing alcohol. She just poured in nitric acid."

Lucas said nervously " So what happens if those two chemicals are mixed together?"

Joel replied " Any kind of alcohol or combustible material combined with oxidizing acids may result in a fire."

Lucas asked in concern " What about the one Double D poured?"

Joel answered nervously " Double D poured sodium hydride into the water. Any kind of hydride combined with water could cause flammable hydrogen gas."

The two boys looked over to the table with wide eyes. Both chemicals were bubbling at a extremely fast rate. Double D and Georgina were both taking notes, unaware of what was about to happen.

Double D said " Interesting. It is causing a type of foaming effect on the chemical."

Lucas shouted " Double D!"

Double D and Georgina both looked at Lucas in shock and confusion. That was when they heard the large, huge explosion.

Double D got up in bed, startled. That dream had seemed so real that if he didn't know any better, he would have said that it was. He looked at his small clock. It was 7:39 am as he stretched his arms and got out of bed. It was time to get up since Mother and Father were both most likely at work.

Double D saw something in his hand. It was a thin, sliver ring with a clear, white stone in the center. He thought that he saw the same ring in his dream.

Double D thought " How strange."

Double D walked downstairs to try and find something to eat. He decided to eat cereal. As he got out the labeled cereal of his choice and the milk, he saw a few sticky Post-It notes. It must be chores or notes from his parents. He took them off the fridge as he sat down to eat his cereal.

Double D said " I should see what is in today's news. Especially since the medical world is evolving so quickly."

The TV turned on to the news as a middle-aged, brown- haired man in a blue suit and tie said " Thank you, Jeff. In other news, a incident in Peach Creek has resulted in the death of 1 boy and the injuries of 3 others. The boy in question, a 14-year-old boy who was a eighth grade at Peach Creek Junior High, was killed in an explosion in the chemistry lab at the middle school yesterday afternoon. The boy was very intelligent and had gotten many scholarships from high schools."

The newscaster continued " Apparently, the explosion was caused by the accidental mixing of two chemicals. There was also a separate fire caused by the same occurrence. The boy died on arrival at Peach Creek General Hospital."

Double D thought " Oh, what a pity! This young gentleman had so much to live for! He could have been a scientist or perhaps a doctor or lawyer. Oh well." as he continued to eat his cereal.

* * *

Afterward

Double D barely had a pulse after the explosion occurred at the chemistry lab. By the time the ambulance got to PCGH, Double D was dead. However, his doctor was Jared Morgan, 26 and the older brother of Candace Morgan. Jared had refused to treat the gravely ill Double D which led a doctor to unsuccessfully operate on Double D and keep him alive, but to no avail despite Doctor Redman's best efforts.

Georgina Barton was injured and burned mildly. After two weeks in the ER and ICU, she was released to her parents. She helped Joesph " Joel" Hamborn, Lucas Mitchell, Jerome Taylor and Chris Lowe set up the scholarship fund in Double D's name.

Jared Morgan was put on probation for the incident and later fired from Peach Creek General Hospital for Double D's death. His license to practice medicine was later revoked as well. Doctor Redman got the opposite. He was given the children's ward to operate and had gotten a personal letter from Double D's parents, thanking him for his efforts to keep Double D alive.

Jared was later sued by the Greens, along with the General Hospital, Doctor Redman and Peach Creek School District. The Greens won the suit and got $1 million dollars. Jared lost his license and the hospital paid the Greens. The junior high had shelved and placed all potentially dangerous chemicals under lock and key as a result of the incident. They had also ordered all-non dangerous chemicals and dangerous chemicals to be labeled.

Double D died on June 25, 1998 in the ambulance on its way to Peach Creek General Hospital. This was mainly due to the neglect of Jared Morgan. Double D still has a dislike of sports, even in the cul-de-sac. Considering how good he is at sports, it is still surprising.

Double D's grave was not far from Eddy and Ed's graves. It had the words inscribed on it: " Eddward Peter Green, May 12th, 1984- June 25th, 1998. Dear son, friend, classmate and lover. You will truly be missed."

* * *

**That wraps up chapter 6. So who would be next to enter the Purgatory?**

**Read and review!**


	7. Kevin

The Purgatory chapter 7

**So here we are! Just a couple more chapters to the end!**

**Benny: Yeah, what a pity. So who's the poor sucker this time?**

**I wouldn't call them a sucker, Benny. But let's read this and find out!**

* * *

Background

17-year-old Michael " Mike" Lanston was concerned about how his life was going. He had poor grades in school, being forced to move out of his family's home, owed money to the biggest psycho in town and to top it all off, some ugly bitch named Jenna claimed to be having his kid. Mike sighed as he thought that things might not change.

Mike was a young man in 1985 and was your average teen slacker. He didn't show up to school too often and spent most of his time playing Nintendo or Atari. When he wasn't at his house playing video games, he was either at the town video arcade or the local bar. Mike had to wise up to reasonability, though when Kevin Eden Lanston was born on July 26th, 1985.

Mike didn't want to claim Kevin as his child at first. He denied parentage and neglected to take care of Kevin and had it not been for Mike's parents, Kevin would have been raised in a single-parent home. Mike took care of Kevin alongside Kevin's mother, Jenna Flores. Jenna was 19 and bullied in both high school and college so Mike didn't pay much attention to her. Even after Kevin was born, Mike still ignored Jenna.

Two months after Kevin turned a year old, in September 1986, Jenna Flores was killed by two muggers on a Pontiac street on the night of September 4th, 1986. She was found by a local jogger and the ambulance took her to Henry Ford Hospital. By the ambulance got there, Jenna had already succumbed to her wounds.

Mike suddenly found himself the single father of a 1-year-old. Kevin was raised in a small apartment in the Detroit suburbs and Mike liked it that way. They weren't far from Detroit so Mike always could make runs for his job and the town wasn't very far from where his parents lived so that Mike would be able to visit. But in 1991, things would change.

On March 9th, 1991, Sarah Lanston was in her home in Pontiac when her neighbors heard gunshots. People rushed onto the streets to find out what just happened. Sarah Lanston and her fiancée, Gregory Salbird were both found wounded in the living room of their home, shot with a .38 handgun. Salbird was shot twice, once at close range. He had a bullet in his chest and one in his stomach but he was taken to the hospital and excepted to make a full recovery.

Sarah, however, wasn't so lucky. She was shot eight times, five times in the chest, twice in the shoulder and once in the head. She was shot three times at close range, unlike Gregory who was shot only once at close range. She was declared dead on the scene.

Mike was mildly panicking. With his sister and the mother of his child dead, and his gambling and alcohol debts catching up to him, Mike no longer felt that it was safe to stay in Detroit. On the night of March 16th, 1991, only a week after Sarah's death, Mike packed up a suitcase and a duffel bag with clothes, the basic necessities, a Nintendo gaming system and a bottle of cheap liquor and no less than 5 thousand dollars in cash before he put the bags in the trunk of his 1988 Audi Sedan and put Kevin in the backseat and then drove off from the apartment.

Mike and Kevin relocated to Peach Creek in early May of 1991 after what was a almost two-month stint of hotel rooms, friends' houses, bars and couches. Mike didn't have enough money for a home so he rented a small apartment not far from the outskirts of town but he told Kevin that they would soon be able to live in their own home. However, Mike was mildly out of control. He drank more than he used to and he gambled so much that he actually made more money in a day than what he lost in a year. According to the landlord, Mike used to bring different women to the apartment.

Of course, all this had a toll on Kevin. His preschool teachers used to tell Mike that Kevin drew inappropriate things and acted out in class. Mike mainly ignored these warnings and told the teachers that it wouldn't happen again. He would discipline Kevin by shouting or mocking him which would only make things worse.

Kevin's personality changed in those years from a happy, bubbly toddler to a quiet, soft-spoken preschooler. No doubt that this had to do with Mike's discipline. As 1991 came and went, Kevin started kindergarten and Mike began to drink even more. He actually spent more time at the bars than he did at the video arcades. As the time went on, Mike's behavior became more dangerous and disturbing. He abused and neglected Kevin while giving some, if not most of his attention to Kevin's baby half-sisters, Noelle and Laura.

Due to that, Kevin secretly harbored a deep hatred for his little half-sisters and decided to find ways to abuse either one of them. At first, there were small, little incidents that could passed off as "accidental". Being burnt with a spoon, belted, poured hot soup, the likes of that. But Kevin needed an outlet to help him with that.

That outlet came in the form of Christian fundamentalist Marcus Connor. Marcus was a stocky man in his 20's who had been raised in a extremely religious household and had been in and out of prison multiple times in the 1980's and early 1990's. Marcus had always been one to try and impose his unusual beliefs on others and Kevin seemed like the perfect guinea pig to him.

So in June of 1994, Marcus joined a local Big Brothers Big Sister branch and began to mentor Kevin. The point of Big Brothers is to have young boys get a mentor and help them in order to get them and keep them out of trouble and harm. In other words, they were basically supposed to help the kids and make sure that their role models or mentors weren't the Crip that hung out on the local street corner or the prejudiced skinhead that walked around town wearing a leather jacket with a bunch of patches.

However, Marcus could have been just as, if not more dangerous to Kevin's childhood. He had educated Kevin on his religious and social beliefs so that while Kevin was learning from him, he kept enough distance and taught him about other things so that Marcus' superiors wouldn't get too suspicious. That also had a toll on Kevin and may have possibly have been the reason for an incident in September of 1994.

This is what occurred when Kevin's teacher talked to Mike...

* * *

Mike was curious about why the teacher called him during Kevin's lunch period. The teacher wanted him to show up just before school ended to talk to him. All he knew was that the teacher said that it had something to do with whatever Kevin did earlier this week. Personally, he just wanted to go in there and get it over with.

So he entered Kevin's homeroom and Kevin's teacher, Mr. Baldwin, a dark-haired man in his 40's looked at Mike before he sighed, pulled out a dark-colored folder and began flipping papers through the folder.

Mr. Baldwin said " Ah, yes, you must be Kevin's father. I'm Mister Baldwin, Kevin's homeroom teacher. Nice to meet you, Mister Lanston." before he stuck his hand out for Mike to shake.

Mike hesitantly shook his hand and replied " Likewise, Mister Baldwin." before he looked at the other two people in the room which was a grey-haired man in a suit and a blond-haired slim woman in a white blouse, navy skirt and jacket.

Mister Baldwin had decided to introduce them by saying " This is Mister and Mrs. Rosen. Their son, Jeffrey is in Kevin's homeroom."

Mike said " Pleasure to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Rosen." before he sat down in a chair in front of Mr. Baldwin's desk.

Mr. and Mrs. Rosen both looked at each other before Mr. Rosen turned to Mike and replied " I wish we could say the same."

Mike turned back to Mr. Baldwin and asked " So you said that Kevin had a incident earlier this week?"

Mr. Baldwin looked through the folder and answered " Well, Kevin had gotten into a physical altercation with Jeffrey on Monday which followed an argument."

Mrs. Rosen said " Jeffrey has never been a fighter. So he couldn't have started the fight."

Mike asked in curiosity " So what was this argument about?"

Mr. Baldwin answered " The argument was about money that Jeffrey apparently owed Kevin. Jeffrey told Kevin that he had no more money and that if Kevin tried to steal from him again, Jeffrey would tell the local police."

Mike said " That doesn't sound like Kevin. He always has money and surpringsly, he doesn't spend a single penny."

Mike thought " Yeah, right. That kid spends so much money that it's almost no surprise that our family's in the red."

Mr. Baldwin continued " But the actual trouble started on Tuesday afternoon during recess. Kevin came over to Jeffrey and punched him in the face. According to Jeffrey, Kevin blamed a visit from the local police department on him."

Mrs. Rosen said " That's ridiculous. Why would Jeffrey call the police on such a little occurrence?"

Mike thought " Hate to say it but I have to agree with the strict lady over here. There would be no reason for that kid-for any kid to call the cops over a little fight. But the police thing...I remember that."

Mike replied " There was a visit from the local police on Monday afternoon. They were investigating a string of a robberies in our neighborhood and they asked Kevin some questions about it."

Mike thought " There's no way the kid could have done it. Kevin may be a lot of things but he is not a thief...I hope."

Mr. Baldwin continued " Jeffrey said that he denied that he called the police. Then Kevin apparently called him a liar and a " little bastard" before he took out a Colt Anaconda and put it to Jeffrey's forehead. He said that if Jeffrey did anything else to Kevin, he would shoot Jeffrey like his dad shot Maria."

Mr. Rosen said " I'm not sure why somebody- anybody would threaten Jeffrey at all, let alone with a shotgun. This was over a local visit from the police?"

Mr. Baldwin nodded and replied " That's what Jeffrey told me, the assistant principal, the principal, the police and the security guard."

Mrs. Rosen said " I'm wondering how this Kevin boy managed to get a gun into the school or even have a gun at all in the first place."

Mike said " Well, our family doesn't keep any weapons. I do have a shotgun for protection, of course but that's under lock and key. There's no way Kevin could have gotten to it."

Mike thought " How the hell did he even get a gun? I already know that it's not any of mine because I don't own a Anaconda. Plus, even if he had a gun, Kevin isn't that stupid. He would just wait after school before he would threaten the kid."

Mr. Baldwin closed the folder, took off his glasses and said "So the school board, the district, the assistant principal and the principal agree that Kevin's punishment should be six weeks of a in-school suspension in addition to having a ankle bracelet. If Kevin has any more psychical altercations with a student, the in-school suspension will be extended to thirteen weeks and if Kevin does another incident similar to the one on Tuesday, he will have a out-of-school suspension and be forced to complete the year at the Peach Creek Juvenile Center."

Mr. and Mrs. Rosen both looked at each other before they nodded.

Mr. Rosen looked at both Mike and Mr. Baldwin before he said " My wife and I think that would be an appropriate punishment for the Lanston boy." before Mrs. Rosen nodded her head in agreement.

Mike replied " I don't think that Kevin had done anything wrong but I will tell him that."

Mike shook hands with Mr. Baldwin and said " Thank you for your time." before he left.

Thirty minutes later, Mike came home. He bought the house in the suburbs with a combination of loan money and money that he "borrowed" from sleeping or dazed crazies walking around. But he didn't always sleep in the house.

Mike walked into the house and closed the door behind him quietly. He looked around before he noticed that nobody was in the main living room.

He shouted " Kids, I'm home!"

Two small girls ran up to him and hugged him. One was about six or seven years old, with dark brown hair and medium skin and she wore a purple T-shirt and shorts. Her name was Noelle.

The other was about six or seven with blond hair and light skin. She wore a light green T-shirt and jeans. Her name was Laura.

Mike hugged the two of them and kissed Noelle's forehead. He looked around for Kevin but he didn't actually hear anything. Anything except for the sounds of a Sega Genesis.

Mike said " Wait here, kids. I'm going to find your brother." before he went down the hall to look for Kevin.

Mike thought " He must be playing on the Genesis in the Reek Room."

When Mike first bought the house, he decided to make one of the rooms into a private room. He put a TV and a few gaming systems in there as well as a bed. He called it " a recreation room." Kevin called it the " Reek Room" because apparently, the room had a slightly...unpleasant smell to it. Despite that, it was one of Kevin's favorite places in the house, second only to Kevin's bedroom.

Mike opened the door to the Reek Room and walked inside. Of course, there was Kevin sitting on the floor with a Genesis controller in his hands, heatedly playing Road Rash.

Mike kneeled down next to Kevin and said " Road Rash, huh?"

Kevin answered calmly " Didn't have any homework to do."

Mike said " Well, I went to your school today. Was what this about you threatening a kid with a pistol?"

Kevin replied " I didn't threaten anybody with a pistol. I'm only nine, Dad. Give me some credit."

Mike said " Oh, so you do have a pistol?"

Kevin scoffed before he answered " Course not. Just because kids at school may have a gun doesn't mean that I do."

Mike replied with an eyebrow raised " So you won't mind me searching your bedroom for it?"

Kevin shrugged before he unpaused the game and said " Whatever. But if you're looking for a gun, you sure ain't gonna find it."

Mike replied " Oh by the way, you're going to be suspended in school for six weeks plus you'll have a ankle bracelet." before he left the room to go search Kevin's bedroom.

* * *

Background (continued)

Kevin was mildly a rebel in school. He graduated middle school in June of 1999 and started his freshman year of high school that September. As Peach Creek High School refused to accept him due to his bullying, fighting, truancy and extortion among other things, Mike had to send him to Carmen Holt Academy about 40 minutes away.

Kevin had a group of older friends who were rebellious, troublesome and wild. He hung out with them since he wasn't very popular with kids his age in town. If there was to be a textbook example of juvenile delinquents, Kevin's friends would be that example. They drank, they smoked, they fought other rebels and they committed vandalism. But they also did things that most kids their age did like playing video games or listening to music.

On the day that Kevin died, December 24th , 1999, his gang of friends weren't exactly playing video games...

* * *

Kevin was standing around near his house with his friends. He was wearing a blue hoodie and jeans along with his Holt Academy uniform: wrinkled white shirt and plain blue tie. His bad school record prevented him from getting into PCH and already was causing him trouble at Holt.

Kevin's uncle Ray was in town for the week and he had his own car. Hoozer wanted to take Mike's car on a joyride but Kevin persuaded him to take Ray's car instead. Kevin liked his uncle Greg. Despite the fact that he was in a wheelchair, Gregory didn't let that stop him. He showed off his bullet wounds with a smirk and even tried playing wheelchair basketball. But he also helped people with their disabilities and issues. Greg's brother Ray on the other hand...

Abusive was one word to describe him. Drunk was another. He actually drank more shots in a hour than Mike used to in a day. That in itself would have been an accomplishment if Ray was actually nice or even just neutral. But he wasn't. He was a psychotic, abusive jerk who often abused and fought anybody who disrespected him.

Ray had this old, horrible car that barely could run let alone drive into the hole that the guys wanted to. But Kevin didn't want them to use Mike's car and they wanted to get across the hole tonight.

Kevin was standing with the guys, laughing when Jeffrey walked up to him with a slight glare at Kevin. Jeffrey and Kevin still didn't get along and Jeffrey wouldn't even be anywhere near Kevin and his friends if it wasn't for the fact that he was required to.

Jeffrey said " Hey, Lanston."

Kevin turned to Jeffrey as he glared back at him. Since the incident in fourth grade, the relationship between Jeffrey and Kevin worsened to the point where people actually shunned Kevin if he beat up Jeffrey- or even just threatened to. But since Jeffrey knew one of Kevin's friends, Hector, Kevin didn't really have a choice in being hateful towards him. However, that didn't mean that Kevin had to like Jeffrey or vice versa.

Kevin replied " What do you want, Rosen? Don't you have some science experiment to do or something, considering you are one?"

Jeffrey replied back calmly " Kevin, I wouldn't want to be near you if I had to. Unfortunately, I have a message for you which I'm supposed to carry out in person." before he rolled his eyes.

Kevin crossed his arms, shrugged and said " So what's your message, wise guy?"

Jeffrey replied " It's from your little girlfriend, Juliet. She says that the childcare classes start on Monday."

Kevin replied " Thanks for the warning, freak. Now get lost."

Jeffrey said " Hey, messages don't come cheap. Especially coming from a crazy like Julie." before he stuck out his hand.

Kevin looked around at his friends before he dug his right hand his pocket and he pulled out his wallet.

Kevin said " OK, freak, how much do we owe ya?"

Jeffrey replied " Since I had to try and get here through the trailer park, not to mention since it's Julie...about 1.80."

Hector replied " How about a dollar?"

Jeffrey said " 1. 70."

Hector replied " 1. 10."

Jeffrey replied " 1.60."

Hector looked around before he calmly replied " 1.40, Jeffrey and you've got a deal."

Jeffrey nodded and said " Done." before he shook Hector's hand.

Hector handed him the $1.40 before Hector also gave him a 20-dollar bill. Jeffrey smiled as this was the most he had gotten for his profession this month.

Jeffrey said " Thanks, Hector!" before he walked away casually.

Kevin asked " Hector, why do you hang out with that freak?"

Hector answered " Kev, Jeffrey ain't a freak. Not exactly the most popular guy at Peach Creek but he's not a freak. You could try lightening up a little, you know. After all, it's Christmas Eve."

Kevin shrugged before he said " Come on, man. Ray's only gonna be in town until he leaves for the airport at eleven tonight. But until then, I'm probably gonna be pissed off."

Hector replied " Why? Just because that jerk is still in town doesn't mean that you have to be angry. Look at all of this. Even Jeffrey is in a good mood." before he smirked.

Kevin replied with a raised eyebrow " Dude, you just gave him like 22 bucks for no damn reason. Of course, the freak would be happy."

Hector's reply was a mere shrug as he looked at Ray's black 1990 Chevrolet Corvette. It was kind of old, which meant that it would have made it easy to hotwire. But that wouldn't be necessary since Kevin stole the keys from his uncle the previous morning while he wasn't looking. Kevin thought that Uncle Ray deserved this since he was not only strict to a great extent but that he was abusive and crazy.

Harold White was the oldest of them at age 21. A high school dropout who came from a middle-class family, White was like a " child in a adult's body". White was a former hockey player who decided to join the boys after saving them from a angry store owner in June of 1997. The younger boys quickly warmed up to White and envied him, while the older boys respected him and treated him like an equal.

White asked " Yo, Kevin, you got your uncle's keys?"

Kevin nodded and answered " Yeah, dude. Here you go." before he tossed White the keys.

White caught the car keys before he unlocked the car door and opened it. He got in and put the keys before he started the engine. When the engine slowly revved, the boys cheered. After all, they were about to attempt Ripper's Hole. Anyone who made it over that hole would be a legend. And even if it was one of their crew, then it would be even better.

White got out of the car and the other guys cheered before he raised his hands up. There was a good amount of silence from them all. Of course, it was a suspenseful moment. The boys simply knew that one of them would be chosen to drive-no, ride in but drive- the Corvette.

White shouted " OK, guys! We got the Corvette revved up. Now, since this car belongs to Kevin's uncle, Sergei and I have both decided that would only be fair that if he goes over Ripper's Hole first. After that, Sergei will go and then we'll do a coin toss for everyone after that. Sounds good?"

Everybody shouted back " Yeah!" while a few of the kids patted Kevin on the back for being the one to experience going over Ripper's Hole.

Ripper's Hole itself was a hole full of dirt, about five or six feet wide and less than two feet deep. Nobody knew when Ripper's Hole was made, how it was made, why it was made or even how the name came about. Every drunken goofball in town enjoyed trying to go over Ripper's Hole in their cars or motorcycles and usually ended up failing epically.

Kevin got into the driver's seat of the car while White got into the passenger's seat. Kevin put his hands on the steering wheel, extremely nervous inside. But he was happy and would be called a legend if he managed to go over Ripper's Hole. Almost nobody had managed to make it over Ripper's Hole so therefore, being the first one to do it would be a lifetime accomplishment.

White asked " You ready?"

Kevin was nervous but he managed to push the feeling aside as he answered " Man, I was born ready."

Kevin put the gear shift to drive as he pushed on the accelerator almost immediately. He prepared to go up the homemade ramp as he and White both looked at each other with confident smirks.

Kevin thought " Hope we make it. We'd better make it or else my rep would be totally shredded and on Christmas Eve, of all days."

Kevin felt the exciting rush of adrenaline rushing through his body as the car soared in the air. For a few seconds, it actually seemed as if the car was flying like the Ford in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Then the car landed on the ground. The boys cheered as they celebrated. They had been the first to overcome Ripper's Hole and live to tell the tale! This brought forth a feeling of strength and excitement within them.

White got out of the car halfway and shouted " OK! Kevin and I are gonna go over one more time! Then it's gonna be Sergei's turn!" before he went back into the car.

Kevin now felt less nervous but he knew if he made it over a second time, it would be great. He pressed on the accelerator as the car went over the ramp and into the air. However, there was one thing. Kevin and White didn't anticipate on how high they would be going. Usually, when something is in the air, it has to be at a certain level so it will not miss its target or go too far away from it.

Plus there was one law of physics: What goes up must come down. The car did come down...hard. It landed in the middle of Ripper's Hole, the front submerged in the dirt.

White asked " What the hell happened?"

Kevin answered " I don't know, man. I think we went too low."

White said " Damn, the front is in the dirt. Kev, could you pull the gear shift to reverse so we could get the car out of this?"

Just as Kevin was about to pull the gear shift to reverse, the boys heard a shout.

Ray shouted " Hey! What the hell are you kids doin-my car!"

Kevin got out of the car, the gear shift still on drive and his heart beating fast. All the kids looked nervous or shocked. This would definitely not end well...

Ray shouted " You little punks trashed my car! Kevin! You're gonna pay for this!" before he started running towards the car.

The moment he did, everyone started running. Kevin took the keys out of the ignition and shoved them into his pocket. He then started running away before he noticed the house was only a few minutes away. He started running faster but then he looked behind him. Ray was right there!

Kevin began to run faster but then Ray tackled him. Ray began to kick, hit and punch Kevin before he looked down at Kevin's bruised form.

Ray asked angrily " Where the hell are my car keys?"

Kevin answered " I- I ain't got them."

Ray growled before he continued hitting and beating Kevin. Kevin was ready to almost cry at this point. It may have been Christmas Eve but there was no family joy in this picture. Kevin tried to protect himself, but to no avail.

Ray picked up Kevin's shirt, pulled his fist back and shouted " That is for taking my car, you little jerk!" before he let his fist fly into Kevin's face.

Kevin woke up in a fit of sweat, almost panicked. He looked at his alarm clock. It said 5:07 am. Kevin looked at himself as he felt pain surging through his body.

Kevin thought " Uh, I feel like crap, man. It's probably because of something I ate." before he headed downstairs to the kitchen to watch TV.

Kevin sat down in front of the kitchen counter before he looked at the flatscreen TV. He didn't know what would be on at that hour.

Kevin said " I hope Whacked Out Sports is on now. That show's awesome." before he turned on the TV.

The morning news was on, of course. The news anchor talked about another story.

" _In other news, a young man has died in Peach Creek. A 14-year-old boy was hit and beaten yesterday afternoon near his home in Peach Creek. The suspect has been found but charges are still pending. We will give more information on this story as it develops."_

* * *

Afterward

Kevin Eden Lanston died en route to Peach Creek Northern Hospital on December 24th, 1999. This was unfortunate for his family, since instead of unwrapping presents for Christmas, they had to bury the body of their son, brother and friend.

Raymond Salbird was caught while drunk at a gas station about 2 and a half miles from Kevin's home. He was charged with murder in the second degree, attempted murder and assault. He was found guilty on all counts and sent to prison. He is now serving the remainder of his sentence in a maximum security prison.

Carmen Holt Academy, the school Kevin went to, gave his family a honorary diploma in Kevin's honor. Had Kevin been alive, he would have graduated as part of the Class of 2003.

Kevin's grave is not far from Nazz and Rolf's graves. It reads " Kevin Eden Lanston: Beloved Son, Brother, Nephew and Friend: July 26th 1985- December 24th, 1999."

* * *

**So that's numero sette! Just one more chapter... or is it? Check out my profile for the poll and give your thoughts!**

**Benny: Cut out the melodramatics.**

**Very funny, Benny. That reminds me. Tomorrow's Super Bowl Sunday! So having had a bad week, it is nice that I have some joy in my life. Now I'm not exactly a Ravens fan but...**

**Benny: * appears wearing a Ravens cap* Super Bowl 47! Ravens are gonna win it!**

**So now I'm going to make a dedication to this chapter... now I did just say I had a bad week and despite Super Bowl Sunday and the ton of food I'm going to have today, I feel like I should do this just to honor someone.**

**This chapter is dedicated to Jadaylee J., a beautiful little girl who lost her life just so soon. **


	8. Jimmy

The Purgatory chapter 8

**Here we are, folks! The last chapter before the merge!**

**Benny: Merge? What merge? I didn't get that in the memo.**

**What memo? Anyway, this is the second to last chapter and it will hopefully be a good one. So let's get started...**

* * *

Background

On April 2nd, 1991, James Miguel " Jimmy" Logan was born to Henrietta Cruz, a hairdresser and Jack Logan, a businessman in Jersey City, New Jersey. He was the youngest of five at the time. In the early 1990's, the recession still appeared to be functioning and took a toll on the working-class people.

Jack got laid off by his boss in July 1991, just a few months after Jimmy was born. It was hard to find work during that time, especially in the field that Jack specialized in. He managed to do a few odd jobs here and there but for the next three years, Jack wouldn't find work. That meant that he had to take care of and watch Jimmy.

For the first four years of his life, Jimmy was perfectly healthy and happy. He was friendly to everyone and seemed to shine with positive energy. He even played basketball with his dad sometimes. But in October of 1995, that would all change...

* * *

It was supposed to be a routine physical. The same Jimmy got every year from his doctor and it was nice to him because afterwards, he got a sticker to cover his cut and a lollipop. And if he behaved during the visit, sometimes his mom would get him a treat. So Jimmy didn't mind it.

Jimmy smiled as he walked into Doctor Preston's office, holding his mom's hand.

He thought " I can't wait to get a lollipop from the doctor!"

Jimmy and Henrietta sat down and waited for the doctor to call his name. It took 20 minutes but finally...

" James Logan!" the doctor called out.

Henrietta whispered to Jimmy " That's us." before she and Jimmy got up and followed Doctor Preston. After a series of tests, Doctor Preston put a Looney Tunes Band-Aid on Jimmy's finger.

Doctor Preston said " Alright, Mrs. Logan, that's all I have to do for little Jimmy here. Oh...one more thing. Could I speak to you in private?"

Henrietta looked down at Jimmy and kneeled down to him to talk to him.

Henrietta said " Jimmy, why don't you go over to Gordon Park and wait for me? I'll be there in 10 minutes."

Jimmy shyly nodded before he walked out the door and followed his friend to Gordon Park. Henrietta waited until he was out of sight and looked at Doctor Preston with concern.

Henrietta asked in a worried tone " Is there anything wrong, Doctor Preston?"

Doctor Preston answered sadly " Actually, there is. You see, when I checked my sample of Jimmy's blood from last year and compared it to the sample he just gave, I noticed something very concerning."

Doctor Preston continued " I don't know how to tell you this, Mrs. Logan but Jimmy has redemenia."

Henrietta asked " Doctor, what is redemenia?"

Doctor Preston answered " It is a rare disease similar to leukemia. However, there are a few differences. While leukemia starts out in the bone marrow, redemenia seems to start somewhere in the lower body, possibly the intestines. It causes you to feel very sick and weak and since the disease is one that slowly infects, it is almost invisible to X-Rays."

Doctor Preston continued " Since redemenia isn't common in toddlers, I was surprised that Jimmy had it. However, symptoms don't normally occur until after a few months. Not many people who have redemenia manage to make it to middle-age or even early adulthood. If Jimmy could come back in two weeks, I could possibly do a further examination. But for now, that's my diagnosis."

Henrietta nodded and walked to Gordon Park, tears in her eyes all the way there. Her son had a disease that could kill him before he started middle school or grade school, even. The sad part was there was nothing she could do about it.

* * *

Background (continued)

After that, Jimmy's health moderately declined. He began to experience several symptoms of redemenia, including fever, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, irregular breathing, irregular heartbeat, night terrors, hallucinations, insomnia, amnesia, urinary incontinence and low body temperature.

Due to his illness, Jimmy didn't go outside too often and as a result, didn't have a lot of friends during that time. Jack and Henrietta couldn't watch him since Jack now had to work long hours and by the time Henrietta had come home, Jimmy had passed out on the floor of his room. Finally, the Logans decided to move to Peach Creek in early 1996.

This was because people began to make fun of and discriminate against Jimmy for his illness. Redemenia was apparently thought to be contagious and therefore, anyone could catch it. However, that wasn't the case. Out of hopelessness and frustration, Henrietta began to feel depressed. The fact that she lost her job as a hairdresser didn't help things.

In January of 1996, a few months before Jimmy's fifth birthday, Jack got a promotion in his job and chosen to be an employee in Peach Creek. Henrietta agreed because now she could have a fresh start and doctors could do more research to find a cure for Jimmy.

Jack and Henrietta moved into a large house in a suburb of Peach Creek. It was big for the seven children they had, as Henrietta had twins Jack Junior and Nicole in 1993. Jimmy had a room all to himself, which wasn't so bad. But Jimmy's illness got worse and worse over time. Most nights, Jimmy ended up shaking on the floor and curled up in a fetal position. Henrietta felt more depressed when she heard Jimmy crying, screaming and whimpering in the middle of the night.

On June 24th, 1997, however, things would only get worse...

* * *

It was the middle of another sleepless night for poor Jimmy Logan. He couldn't sleep tonight with all the monsters and evil around him. But he wouldn't stay awake either because he kept on shaking and crying. Jimmy just wanted all of it to end and to enjoy his carefree life again.

In the room next door, Henrietta was very concerned about Jimmy and could you blame her? A innocent 6-year-old boy who can't even go to school because by lunchtime, he would've a panic attack that caused him to be sent home. A young child who can't even play with his friends because he doesn't have any. A little boy who might not even make it to the first grade.

Henrietta's train of thought was interrupted by a phone call. She rubbed her eyes and checked the time on the clock next to her. It read 1:07 am which meant Jimmy had been up for part of the night so far.

She pressed the talk button on the phone and said " Hello?"

" Mrs. Logan? Hi, this is Doctor Preston. I wanted to tell you something concerning Jimmy. I would have waited until the morning but it is urgent."

Henrietta asked " What is it?"

Doctor Preston answered " Peach Creek Central has sent me the results of Jimmy's latest check-up. This is unfortunate and I'd hate to tell you this but it seems the redemenia has spread."

Henrietta felt her eyes widen and her heart drop to the bottom of her stomach. It spread? That was definitely nothing good and would only cause more problems for Jimmy over time.

Henrietta shakily asked " Doctor, how much time does Jimmy have left?"

Doctor Preston hesitated before he said " Mrs. Logan, you know I can't-"

Henrietta replied in a sad voice " Please, Doctor. Just tell me how long."

There was a short pause on the other end before the doctor replied " At this time and stage, we don't know. It could be a few years. A few months. A few weeks. A day. An hour. Five seconds. But chances are he'll be lucky if he finishes grade school."

Henrietta said "Oh. T-Thank you for calling, Doctor." before she hung up.

After that, Henrietta was sitting up in bed, sobbing. She couldn't tell Jack now, she thought. He'd be as hurt as she was. And she definitely could not let Jimmy know.

* * *

Background (continued)

Jimmy spent much of his time in his bedroom when he was not at school. Even after Jimmy got adjusted to living in Peach Creek, he never actually felt like he fit in. He spent many days off school, ill. And the days that he was there, kids either made fun of him or ignored him.

Jimmy began to feel sad and unhappy, which was understandable considering his situation. He was a six year old boy with a technically terminal illness who had no friends, got stuck in his room a lot and was very depressed and unhappy. Most days, Jimmy didn't want to go to school because people would taunt or laugh at him.

This is an average day for Jimmy at school in 1999...

* * *

It wasn't even recess yet and already the names were starting. Sick boy, freak, weirdo, creep, loser, infected...it just went on and on and on. Some kids laughed at him and made fun of him again just like they did every other day he was here. He tried to feel better about himself but it just wasn't working.

His mom said that Jimmy was alright and to just ignore them but he knew better. He may have been eight but he wasn't stupid. He mostly spent recess crying in the boys' bathrooms.

Jimmy thought "I can't believe I'm saying this but I think I liked it better when they were just ignoring me." as he continued sobbing.

His sobbing was interrupted by a loud knock on the stall door. Jimmy hesitantly unlocked the stall door and it was opened by a tall light-skinned kid with black hair and green eyes.

The kid asked " Are you ok, kid?"

Jimmy nodded and answered " Yeah, I'm alright. Hey, are you new? I haven't seen you in the school before."

The kid chuckled and said " Yeah, I just transferred from New York. Name's Louis Manelli." before he put out his hand for Jimmy to shake.

Jimmy shook his hand and replied " Jimmy Logan from Jersey City. What grade are you in?"

Louis replied " Fourth. You?"

Jimmy replied " Second but I almost got held back because I was sick a lot."

Louis asked " So why were you crying?"

Jimmy wiped off his tears, shrugged and answered " Don't know. Guess I was just having a bad day. But it's better now." before he left the bathroom to get to his next class.

* * *

Background (continued)

Louis and Jimmy soon became friends and hung out together. Henrietta felt concerned with the amount of time Jimmy was spending outside but Jack objected to that, saying that it was good for Jimmy to finally make a friend in the town. After all, life was too short to have enemies in Jimmy's case. Since Louis lived on the same street as Jimmy, the two friends hung out almost every day.

Eventually, their platonic friendship evolved into...something more. Of course, nobody suspected at first. With Louis' family being too concerned with their own problems and Jimmy's parents being busy all the time, it took a while to figure it out. Of course, neither of the boys' families approved of the relationship. The age difference, Jimmy's redemenia and the fact that Louis had emotional and behavioral issues didn't help things. But Jimmy managed to overcome his illness. He became to make more friends, become less antisocial, pay more attention in class and he even played little league baseball.

However, just because Jimmy seemed to be overcoming redemenia, that didn't mean his symptoms stopped. If anything, in 2000 and 2001, things got worse. Louis began to become abusive and hurtful towards Jimmy. Bruises, cuts and scars became common things for Jimmy as well as hateful taunts and names from his friend/bully. This made Jimmy confused on his relationship overall with Louis. Neither of the boys' families could intervene since Louis' family was oblivious to what he was doing and Jimmy's family was powerless in trying to stop it.

One incident in particular, on the day of April 4th, 2002 would be one that either boy would forget and not exactly for the right reasons...

* * *

That afternoon, Jimmy was sitting in his bedroom at home. Louis had just gotten him a PlayStation 2 for his birthday so Jimmy wanted to go and play it. But that wasn't the only present Louis gave Jimmy. The second one was a secret one that Jimmy had gotten the night before.

Jimmy knew all about the Birds and Bees- he learned most of it from his parents and some of it from Louis when he was being a jerk. But what he experienced sort of changed his view on that. He didn't know if he should tell somebody. But even if he did, would they listen? Even if somebody did listen, would they actually believe him?

A few hours after that, Jimmy's older brother, Cyrus came into his room. He had light brown hair and hazel eyes and wore a red T-shirt and jeans.

Cyrus asked " Jimmy, are you OK? Mom and Dad are getting worried about you."

Jimmy nervously answered " I-I'm fine. Mom and Dad don't have to worry about me."

Cyrus said " Are you sure? They're just concerned since you know the redemenia came back in full force and you've been really withdrawn lately. Not talking to anybody, staying up in your room all day, acting as if they don't exist. Jim, if something's wrong, could you tell me?"

Jimmy began to think if he should tell Cyrus about what happened. On one hand, it would get the problem off his chest and maybe make more things better in his life. On the other, it might make Louis angry again and make Cyrus want to kill Louis. But the pros outweighed the cons at the time and so Jimmy took a long, deep breath.

Jimmy said " Cy, I do have something to tell you. Last night, Louis came into our house. I didn't think much about it because he's my friend. He stayed up for a while until I went to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night and I felt something on top of me. I tried to scream but Louis covered my mouth."

Jimmy continued " I tried struggling, kicking and hitting but nothing worked. Then I started to feel drowsy and dizzy before I passed out. I think Louis v-violated me."

Cyrus was silent for a few minutes which worried Jimmy.

Jimmy said " Cy?"

Cyrus replied " I'm going to kill him. No, I'm going to call the cops and THEN I'm gonna kill him for this." before he left the room.

Jimmy wanted to stop Cyrus or at least give him a chance to calm down but at the moment, Jimmy felt so sick that even if he cared, he wouldn't be able to do anything. Jimmy's vision began to fade away as he shuddered before it turned completely black.

Jimmy woke up in bed, sweat dripping from his forehead and panting. He opened his window curtains to show a slightly blue sky before he checked his alarm clock. The time was 6:07 am. He went downstairs to get some breakfast.

Jimmy felt a little dizzy but he was able to make pancakes with a side of eggs and bacon. He turned on the TV to see the morning news.

Jimmy yawned and thought " Wonder what's on the news."

The news reporter said " In local news, a 11-year-old boy has recently died of a rare illness. The boy, whose identity hasn't been released, was two months from graduating Peach Creek School."

Jimmy changed the channel to show if there was news on any of the other channels.

* * *

Afterward

Jimmy died on April 4, 2002 apparently not long after his brother Cyrus left him alone. Jimmy was taken to Peach Creek Metro Hospital, but doctors unfortunately couldn't revive him.

Louis Manelli, Jimmy's former friend and neighbor was originally suspected of having been involved in Jimmy's death. However, it was clear that Jimmy died of redemenia. Louis was still charged with rape in the second degree and sent to a juvenile correctional facility.

A foundation was set up in Jimmy's name by his family and by Peach Creek Elementary and Peach Creek Junior High, the school Jimmy would have gone to if he was alive. The Jimmy Logan Foundation was set up in June of 2002 and a scholarship was put in Jimmy's name as well.

Jimmy's grave is near Sarah's but not far from any of the others. It reads " James Miguel Logan, April 2nd 1991- April 4th, 2002. Beloved Son, Brother, Nephew, Cousin, Friend and Boyfriend. You will truly be missed by all of those around you."

* * *

**Ah, that was heartbreaking...so now we're at the merge.**

**Benny: Again, what merge?**

**The one the readers picked, of course. So I looked at the poll and the Kankers should be done altogether. Therefore, that's why I'll do. See you guys next chapter and please review!**


End file.
